Disappearing Doctor
by TempestDash
Summary: Post StD. COMPLETE! Senior Year for Kim and Ron is proving to be a whirlwind of changes. Things are further complicated when Kim gets a hit on her website to help find a missing person who's actually a villain! WARNING Turns very DARK in last chapter.
1. Part I  History Lesson

Villainy waits for no weatherman.

At least, that's what Dr. Drakken believed, which was why he was outside, in the rain, fiddling with the locks on his newly 'acquired' evil lair, and getting soaked to the bone. The five-story castle was built during the 12th century but moved to this remote island by Senior Senior Senior or some other villain in the last few years. The space was advertised as 'hero-proof,' 'secluded,' and 'exceptionally evil,' which seemed to mean it had an unsolvable hedge-maze, was impossible get to even by helicopter, and the provided keys didn't fit the deadbolt.

"Cursed mechanical locks," shouted the angered mad scientist as he jiggled the small brass key in the cast iron fixture. "This is the last time I get my lair off online auction."

A quiet click sounded as the key finally twisted in the lock and Drakken kicked the door in confidently. Plumes of dust quickly rushed out of the opening and dusted the doctor with a fine layer of soot before quickly dissipating in the heavy rain. Eager to be out of the cold wetness himself, Drakken quickly ducked inside and swung the heavy oak door closed. The bang of ancient wood slamming against stone echoed neatly through the vacant abode.

"Ah, home sweet home," mused Drakken as he wandered through the foyer. His dripping uniform left a dotted line with every step he took. Shivering once, he moved at a faster pace, hoping to come across a stove or fireplace where he could take the edge off this cold. He quickly came across one of the latter but found his wood supply non-existent and all his matches were soggy.

"Where is Shego when I need her," said Drakken, angrily. "She always requests vacation when we're between lairs." Shego, his personal ninja-like side-kick had been on almost permanent vacation since the Bueno Nacho incident. She'd not been pleased to have been left out of Drakken's plans last time until the last minute, and even less pleased that Kim Possible defeated them in the end.

"I'll be around," she'd said simply, and then added, "probably a beach or perhaps a spa. Let me know if you come up with a plan that doesn't suck." She emphasized that last word. "'Cause I'm not coming back for anything less."

Drakken knew he could trust Shego to help him take over the world once he had a suitable plan, and he couldn't come up with a suitable plan without a suitable lair. The dust covered catacombs before him, however, were stretching that definition just a little.

"A little elbow grease and it'll be good as new," Drakken concluded to himself, then tripped over a furry lump on the floor. He flailed about once before examining the pile and felt squeamish. "Eww. Maybe I 'oughta make some syntho-drones to do the cleaning for me."

Picking himself off the floor, he stalked back towards the helipad.

A sudden clatter echoed through the castle and Drakken paused, mid step. He looked around frantically and noticed the deep, consuming shadows that crossed every which way across the long corridor before him. His flashlight failed to penetrate the creeping black.

The castle was supposed to be empty! Drakken quickly began running faster towards his transport and, he thought, safety. As he ran the 'ki-klack' of his boots echoed louder and louder in his ears. He could have sworn that it was multiplying as well, being joined by dozens more. His running descended into scrambling and his breathing dominated all the sound in his ears.

A flash of lighting outlined the door ahead, the bright white light searing itself in Drakken's eyes, destroying his night-vision. He pressed forward still, blind, and too scared to hear anything but his own breath, he could do nothing more but flee, his hands stretched out before him desperately hoping to reach the door.

A moment later and he was there, his hands pressed into the rough wood surface and he ran them swiftly in circles, looking for the knob. Eventually his small fingers found purchase and he yanked with all his might, hoping to tear the door of its hinges and bathe the hallway with the dim, but at least present, evening light. His muscles were nothing compared to the hinges, but the door still swung wide and Drakken turned excitedly to stare back at his would-be pursuers.

Nothing.

The empty hall mocked him with it's stillness. Drakken sweated even as the rain beat against his back. Was he going mad? Was this castle haunted and that was why it was such a steal?

As he pondered the possibilities his shadow, stretching forward from his feet into the hall, began to grow. It didn't get longer, but it grew to the sides, until it showed the outline of a sizable, stocky man. Dr. Drakken turned slowly.

"It was quite a feat to track you down, Mr. Lipsky," a deep, gruff voice said from behind the doctor. "Or is it, Drakken?"

"Doctor Drakken, to you," the blue skinned scientist said as he took in the form before him. Not tall at all, actually, but solid, and menacing. Behind the figure stood at least a half-dozen men, all dressed alike. "What is this? Some sort of shakedown? I bought this castle fair and square!"

"Indeed you did," said the man as he stroked his chin. "But I have no interest in the property. My interest... is in you."

"Me?" said Drakken, quizzically. He furrowed his brow. As he pondered the statement, the stocky man's soldiers surrounded him. "I'm sorry, I'm not your type."

The man laughed as lightning crashed around him, causing the shadows on the man's face to retreat for just a moment. Drakken only caught half of the figure's face, enough to notice the black pit of the man's eye. Even in the brightness of the lightning, the shadows stuck around the menacing socket.

"Even so," the man said as the light faded. "I'll insist you come with me."

"You're kidnapping me?" Drakken said with disbelief. "You can't kidnap me! I'm a villain! I'm the one who kidnaps others!"

The figure remained still as his men grabbed the blue suited doctor by the arms. "Not today."

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Disney's Kim Possible in

**Disappearing Doctor**

By Adam Leigh

Part I: History Lesson

----------------

"Ah, can you smell it, KP?" said Ron Stoppable, the blonde haired, jersey wearing, freckled sidekick and now boyfriend to the world renowned heroine Kim Possible. He took a deep breath as he and the red-headed cheerleader walked together down the sidewalks towards Middleton High School.

"Uh, the growing level of smog from all the SUVs that have just passed us?" asked Kim noticing the sixteenth truck-like vehicle to speed past them in the last few minutes. "I wonder what's going on at the school?"

"No, no, no, KP! It's the smell of Seniors on their way to their first day of class after summer break." Ron put his hand in front of himself dramatically and pulled Kim closer to emphasize the motion. "That, is the smell of us."

"Okay, really grossing me out now," replied Kim as she wiggled out of Ron's dramatic grip. "It's just the first day of classes, no big."

"Way big!" exclaimed Stoppable. "We are SENIORS now, KP. Top of the food chain! We can leave school grounds for lunch! Ditch last period if we have a study hall!"

"Uh, park our own cars at school?" said Kim slowing her pace.

"Exactly!" said Ron. "Although you'd have to have a car, technically, for that be helpful."

"And a spot to park in, apparently. Look."

Ron, momentarily lost in his vision of Seniordom, focused on the school up ahead and noticed the jam. The whole street leading up to the school was packed tight with cars, all apparently trying to get around to the lot on the side. From the look of it, all the spots had been taken twenty cars ago and things had descended to yelling matches between teens from the windows of their vehicles.

A nearby truck, stopped near the sidewalk in the long line, suddenly coughed a huge cloud of smoke as the driver got fed up and turned around to find alternative parking. Ron and Kim coughed violently as the black wisps drifted past.

"Something tells me these people have never heard of a carpool," commented Ron.

"I don't remember this ever happening before," mused Kim as she picked up her speed again. "I guess it's not such a bad thing not to have a car."

"Are you kidding, KP? The speed, the wind in your face, the feeling of power, it's all worth the extra time in traffic."

Kim raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were all about you scooter."

"Oh, that thing?" Ron motioned disgustingly. "Not only did it not survive the modifications your parents made to it during the Bueno Nacho thing, it was totally unsuitable as a getaway vehicle."

"Getaway vehicle?"

"Now, I know running is not really your thing, KP, but sometimes, you know, we gotta put some distance between us and the villain and, well, Rufus can run faster than my two-wheeler."

Rufus, Ron's naked mole rat, stirred in his leg pocket and stuck his head out. "Uh-huh! Uh-huh!" he agreed.

"I wouldn't want us to get caught and hurt because of my silly obsession with scooters," admitted Ron, looking down.

Kim blinked, then smiled warmly. "Ron, you don't have to give up your silliness just because we're together now. We were an unstoppable team before, we still are now, don't worry." She stepped closer and kissed him on the cheek. "Besides, I like your silliness."

Ron, sighed and looked back up at Kim, smiling now. "Sorry, KP," he said. "You know I don't have a lot of experience here."

"No big," she said and continued into the school. Once they were heading towards their lockers, she continued. "Anyway, I never asked about your classes this year. Do we line up as well as we did last year?"

Ron rubbed the back of his head. "I'm afraid not, KP. We've got math, lunch, and photojournalism together, but I've got English where you've got history, history where you have Physics, and accounting where you've got English."

"Accounting?"

"My father said I needed to take it."

"Well, that's at least half of the day together," she said. "And I'm sure you'll find a way to survive English without me."

"I don't know, I don't seem to have a teacher assigned," Ron said eyeing his schedule. "I have a pretty good idea what that means, given my luck."

"Barkin?"

"Definitely." Ron shivered. "What about you? I don't remember there being a teacher assigned to your history class either."

"I don't know," shrugged Kim. "I haven't heard anything, I guess I'll find out." She paused. "You know an awful lot about my schedule for me never having brought it up during the summer."

Ron smiled. "A master never tells." A bell rang in the distance as nearby students scrambled. "Well, there's the death toll. See you at lunch!"

"Good luck with Mr. Barkin," said Kim as she waved to Ron.

Ron. Her boyfriend. Three months later and still it felt strange to her. She wasn't sure what it was that made her feel so awkward lately. It was a little bizarre, of course, dating someone she'd been so close to for so long that he was practically a member of her family. Not that it gave her vibes in the "dating family" area, she had no problem viewing Ron as potential dating material.

She guessed it was just that it was so relaxed. With Josh and other guys she'd dated, she always felt on edge, nervous. Like she was going to screw up any second and they'd run away laughing. Erik wasn't like that, from what she could remember, but she also wondered how much of her relationship with that Synthodrone was artificial. Ron, though, was just like a slight modification of what was already there. Dating him was like being friends with him.

Plus kissing. She wasn't ready to think of anything else beyond that.

Finding the classroom number on her schedule, she slipped in, hoping she hadn't dawdled too long outside and missed something.

The class was large, probably at least thirty people were already seated and a few more were still milling around and chatting to friends. The front of the classroom had a briefcase on it, but was surprisingly absent of a teacher. Kim glanced around the room quickly and spotted Monique.

"Hey, girl," said her close friend as Kim took a seat behind the fashion trendsetter employee of the local Club Banana designer store. "Can you believe the luck we've got?"

"Hey Monique," said Kim. "What luck?"

Monique leaned on Kim's desk to make sure her message was heard. "Mrs. Bainesweather was supposed to teach this class but she got into a car accident, she'll be out for the whole 1st semester."

"Er," started Kim. "I didn't care for Mrs. wrinkle-face either, but isn't it a little cruel to say that's lucky?"

"No, no, that's not the lucky part. I do have a heart, girl."

"Sorry."

"The lucky part is that apparently we're getting some young, hot professor from that university in Upperton to sub for her!"

"Edwin Garris University? I don't know, Monique, I heard they don't have the best teachers there. This guy could be really boring." Kim looked skeptical. Then turned slightly, looking past Monique.

"Hey, if this guy is as easy on the eyes as they say, I don't care if he's a snoozefest."

"Uh, Monique," said Kim, transfixed on something behind the dark-haired girl. "I think it's as they say."

Monique turned in time to see the whole class - well, the female contingent anyway - staring at the tall, thin man with surprisingly long flowing brown hair and emerald eyes stride into the classroom and stand behind the desk at the front. Half the room sighed at once.

"Uh, sorry," the man, whose voice was smooth and tenor, said. "I'm still getting used to this place. I didn't mean to be late." He ran a hand through his wavy mane and then opened the briefcase on his desk. "My name is Dr. Richard Vedas, I'm a professor of Central American Archeology at Edwin Garris University and I'll be teaching this class until the faculty is able to find a permanent replacement for Mrs. Bainesweather."

He stood for a few moments awkwardly and then turned and started writing on the chalkboard. "I don't tend to stand on ceremony that much, so if you don't mind, you can just call me 'Dr. Rick.'" He wrote his name on the board and then turned around, smiling. "Or just Rick, if you'd like."

As Dr. Rick dug into his briefcase again for a class list Monique glanced back at Kim. "Score!" she whispered.

Kim shrugged with a smile. Dr. Rick was handsome, and she was glad Monique was happy, but she was more worried that the university instructor would start assigning college-level assignments. She had a hard enough time juggling honors classes with saving the world as it was.

-------------------

_This_ is the life.

Shego sighed deeply as she felt strong hands massage her bare back. She hadn't felt this wonderful in months, certainly since last being thrown in jail and even before that she couldn't remember the last time she was able to get onto Juarez's schedule. He really was an artist when it came to massages, but word had gotten out and only the 'inner circle' could ever see him regularly anymore.

Thankfully, Juarez had made an exception for Shego, having been one of his original clients. Still she had to wait no less than three months for an opening. At the time she was irritated, but it wasn't like she had a reason to leave the tropical beach anytime soon. Now, she was thankful for her own patience.

"Ahhh," she sighed again. She could feel his fingers working her tense muscles around her shoulders. He worked her back hard, and she liked it that way. Too many of the other masseuses Shego had been to were too timid with her. Probably put off by her pale, slightly greenish skin, scared it was contagious or some other nonsense. Juarez dug right in. He was bold in just the right ways.

"Flip, please," Juarez said curtly but softly so as not to break the dazed feeling his clients always had when he worked them over. He'd told Shego that he'd found the accumulative effect to be ultimately more relaxing. Well, he told her something like that, he wasn't exactly fluent in English.

Shego turned onto her back and Juarez draped a towel over her breasts and hips. A few moments to re-oil his hands and he was back to work. Shego closed her eyes and felt like she was in heaven.

And then it stopped.

Rather abruptly, actually. Shego opened one eye and glanced around suspiciously. "Juarez? What's the hold up?" She noticed the tall, tanned and muscular man standing beside her, his hands paused just above her skin. He was staring at something behind Shego, something that had startled him.

Swallowing, Shego slowly began to turn around, feeling the tingling around her hands as the energy built for attack. Looking past her long raven hair she gazed at the sudden intruder and gaped.

"Shego, was it?" said the intruder.

Shego shivered to the core of her being in response. She eventually found her voice and spoke.

"What the hell are you doing here!" she said. "In... THAT?"

"What?" Mama Lipsky asked looking down at herself. The old woman, who couldn't possibly be have been younger than 60, was wearing a two piece bikini and the wrinkled, pitted, and mole covered flesh that was showing was enough to give Shego nightmares for days. Maybe years. "This is a beach, isn't it?"

"Uh..." Shego tried to process this situation and her brain broke. "Yes?" she said, experimentally. "I'm... busy now, and Dr... err... Drew isn't around. I mean, at all. So, you'll go off and look for him now, right?" Shego felt all of Juarez's time consuming, careful work quickly undoing itself.

"Actually, I was looking for you," said Mama Lipsky, adjusting her cataracts.

"Just my luck," muttered Shego. "I don't suppose this could wait until AFTER my massage, could it?"

"Oh," the elder woman said. "Well, I suppose it could. I'll wait for you over there. Oh, and Shego, you really should put some clothes on. You wouldn't want some boy to get the wrong idea about you."

"Whatever, just GO!" Shego hollered and laid back down and prayed for the woman to go away.

"No need to be rude," she heard Lipsky's voice say, growing distant quickly.

Shego sighed. It was too much to expect heaven to last. "Hey, Juarez? I don't suppose I could pay you double to have you start from the beginning again, can I?"

Juarez was silent and Shego opened her eyes again to look. The man was still standing, just as he was minutes ago, but had moved his hands to his side. Shego just blinked.

"I need to go," he said suddenly. "My eyes aren't working anymore." He started stiffly moving away from the table and towards the exit of the topless grass hut that served as a privacy screen for his clients.

Shego hung her head and grumbled. "I hope that woman has something really important to tell me or I will make her pay dearly." Grabbing her green and black colored bikini and tossing it on, she stormed out to find the soon-to-be-dead woman.

The elder Lipsky was sitting out on a recliner, wearing a floppy hat now and reading a sizable book. She was still in the bikini -- there is no god, Shego thought -- and every inch of exposed skin on the woman made Shego hope that she died before ever getting near Mama Lipsky's age.

"What is it?" said Shego, sharply. She sat down quickly in the recliner beside the woman and folded her arms. "You're ruining my vacation."

"Drew is missing," she said quickly, putting her book aside.

"Ooo-kay," said Shego, caught a little off guard. This woman was starting to do that on a regular basis. "What makes you say that? He's a very... mobile person." Shego paused. Why was she covering for Drakken's lies anyway? Shego didn't care whether Dr. D's mother thought he was a radio psychotherapist or not.

"Oh, he always calls on Sunday," nodded Mama Lipsky, ignoring Shego's strange stares. "Every Sunday, 52 weeks a year, without exception."

"He _does_?"

"Last weekend he didn't call, and the number he gave me didn't work. I think something's happened to him. But I always saw him with you, so I thought you might know."

"Makes sense," mused Shego instinctively then froze. "Woah woah, waitaminute! You lost Drak-- Drew, and instead went looking for me? How did you even find me? I never gave you my number and I didn't tell Dr. D where I was going!"

"Oh," said Mama Lipsky and she shrank a little bit. "Well, actually, I never wanted to tell Drew, because he seemed to have such a bright future and I didn't want him to get caught up in the wrong crowd, but I didn't always used to be a nurse."

"You... didn't?" Shego didn't like where this was going.

"It's all ancient history, really, but I used to be a bit of a--" she paused and leaned in close. Shego reciprocated, instinctively. "A criminal."

"You?" said Shego, trying to restrain her laughter. "A criminal? What, did you shoplift once or twice in your greaser days?"

"Actually -- and it's all very embarrassing -- but I used to be what we called a villain." She quoted with her fingers in mid-air. "'Atomic Andy,' was my name."

Shego's urge to laugh died and she paled ... well, paled _more_. "You were, wait, lemme get this straight." Shego furrowed her brow. "You, Dr. D's mom, used to be the famous villain Atomic Andy?"

Mama Lipsky nodded. Shego almost exploded. "What happened to you? You were famous! 'One trick short of dominating the world,' they used to say! What happened... Jesus! What happened to your figure? The pictures of you are statuesque!"

The elder woman laughed briefly. "All the same thing, actually! Oh, I shouldn't be so jovial about this; I caused a lot of trouble in my youth. The truth is I met Drew's father and gave it all up."

"Drew's father?" Shego felt let down, like she'd somehow been betrayed by an idol. She knew of Atomic Andy, and her reign of crime in the early 60s, one of the few female super-villains of the era. She was respectable, from a feminist point of view. To find that she turned down the world for a MAN was somewhat... disappointing. Shego didn't really want to believe it. "The accountant?"

"Oh, well, Julian wasn't really just an accountant either." Mama Lipsky energetically shook her head. "In actuality he was--"

Shego held up a hand. "You know what? I don't want to know. Let's get back to the matter at hand. I'm finding history to be a depressing subject." A headache was building in the back of her brain which only reminded her how nice Juarez's massage was before it was rudely interrupted. "How did you find me again?"

"A couple of Julian and my contacts are still around, doing villainy or justice, or what have you. I called in some favors to try and locate Drew and when that failed I had them look for you." She leaned in close again. "You sure don't keep a low profile."

"It's not my way," she said with a wave of her hand. "Anyway, as shell-shocking as this conversation has been, I don't know where Drew is. He usually calls me when he needs my help." It occurred to Shego that Mama Lipsky should have known about Dr. Drakken, if she was who she claimed to be. Then again, maybe the whole family is as thick headed as Drakken, who, even after 3 years of fighting Kim Possible, has only remembered her buffoon's name once.

"You'll help me look for Drew though, right?"

Shego frowned. "Uh, that's also not really my way."

Mama Lipsky frowned and stared. "I mean, I'm worried about him, don't get me wrong, but he'll probably turn up. He's like a bad penny."

The woman continued to gaze scornfully at Shego.

"It's possible he's just been held up and he'll call any moment now."

Her will was being crushed by a senior citizen ex-super-villain but she tried to resist anyway. "Any moment now," she repeated.

"You know," said Mama Lipsky after a long silence. "I found out some things about you when I was searching."

"Oh really?" said Shego, nervously. "What kind of things?"

"I'm pretty sure you've told my boy you're a thief, but how about where you were before then? As a member of a team of heroes."

"Oh, he knows all about that," said Shego, looking for escape options. The beach was crowded but there was plenty of room to run. She plotted a route through the people in her head.

"It seemed to be a closely guarded secret," said Mama Lipsky, tauntingly. "Or at least, so my one source says." Somehow all of the 'motherly' aspects of the woman had melted away and exposed something dark and sinister. Her voice, normally nasal, sounded strangely strong and evil. "I don't suppose you'd mind if I had this information distributed freely so everyone knew."

Shego wilted. "I'll help you find Drew," she muttered.

"Great!" exclaimed Mama Lipsky, back to sounding light and nasal. "I really appreciate you offering to help."

Shego turned away. So much for her vacation.

----------------

"I think it's against the law to assign detention on the first day of classes," commented Ron as he poked at his warm and strangely shimmering food. Cafeteria cuisine just wasn't the same since his own restaurant was shut down by the city Food and Sanitation Committee. "Stupid Barkin, quizzing us on the summer reading."

Kim patted Ron on the back as she sat next to him in the cafeteria. She took one glance at her food and pushed it aside, choosing to pull a pair of apples out of her backpack. She'd learned years ago to always have a backup plan to the cafeteria. She passed one of her apples onto Ron.

"It's no big, Ron. Besides, I'm sure Big Mike and the rest will be there, so you won't be alone. And I'll wait for you after cheerleading practice, okay?"

Ron nodded and bit into the apple. "How was your class? Unless Barkin got himself cloned, your sub couldn't have been as bad as mine." Ron shivered at the concept of an army of cloned Barkins. He was glad that Dr. Drakken never got that idea into his head.

"Actually, it was kinda cool," admitted Kim. "Our teacher is a professor from Edwin Garris University and he kinda made history fun."

"Fun?" asked Ron, incredulously.

"Well, he asked each person in the class to tell him about Junior Prom last year and wrote down all the stories. Then he compared the facts and showed us how perspective changes your view of history and the only way he can be sure of what really happened is by finding the same event being described in each version."

"Or he could just watch the tape," added Ron. "I understand the camera work is good on it but the editing came up short."

"Ron," said Kim disappointedly. "The period of history we're studying didn't have camcorders or anything like that. We only have their stories to understand them."

"It's a shame we can't time travel to find out," said Ron. "It would probably clear up all that confusion."

"I'm sure time travel would cause more problems than we'd like." Kim shook her head. A sudden commotion caught Kim and Ron's attention and they glanced over to see a throng of girls surrounding a tall suited man. "Hey, it's him."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Him, who, KP?"

"The guy who's teaching my history class; Dr. Rick is his name. Monique figured he'd be the drama today." Kim blinked. "I think that's her on the right hand side."

"No way," said Ron, stunned. "I never pegged her for the groupie-type."

Kim smiled. "Sometimes, things change."

"Very true," nodded Ron, sagely.

A chime of notes drifted up from Kim's pocket. She pulled out her Kimmunicator and held it out in front of her. "What's the sitch, Wade?"

Wade, the short, roundish computer genius behind most of Kim's gadgets stared through the screen. "Hey, Kim! We've got a hit on the website!"

"First day back. Never fails," commented Ron. "I wasn't up for math today anyway."

"This one's a doozy," continued Wade. "You'd never believe me if you didn't read it with your own eyes." The figure on the screen punched a button and a bunch of text started scrolling up the screen.

"Why the drama, Wade?" asked Kim. "It's just a missing pers-- wait, is that who I think it is?" She stared at the screen in shock.

Ron blinked. "Well, now I've seen everything. I can die happy." Rufus jumped up out of Ron's pocket and looked at the Kimmunicator. He read the last few lines then fainted. "Rufus agrees, anyway."

"Angela Lipsky?" Kim echoed the name on the webpage. "That wouldn't be--"

"Dr. Drakken's mom," finished Wade.

"Drakken is missing?" said Kim. "How would she even know?"

"I'm not sure," said Wade. "But she's listed the coordinates for what she thinks is Drakken's last hideout. Although she does calls it his 'weekend home.'"

"What do you think, KP? Is it a trap?" Ron looked to her for the word.

"I don't know," mused Kim. "Drakken doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would use his mother like this. It might be on the level. We should check it out."

"I'll get you a ride," nodded Wade before disappearing from the Kimmunicator entirely.

"Searching for Dr. Drakken. Never saw this day coming." Ron shrugged. "Any ideas where to look?"

Kim frowned. "He should be in jail after what he did to..." she trailed off. "I'm starting to wonder how effective prison is for guys like him."

"Woah, KP, you're not getting all 1984 on me, are you?"

Kim shook her head. "Of course not, Ron," she said confidently, but privately, she wondered.


	2. Part II  Finding Truths

The rain had passed but the looming castle nestled between crooks in a mountain on an otherwise deserted island looked gloomy as ever. Not only was the island of minimal significance, it was well out of the way that there was hardly ever any air traffic within tens or hundreds of miles. So it was unusual to see, in the breaks of the clouds, the moderately sized four engine propeller plane happily chugging overhead. Even stranger still were the two teens who leapt from the plane just as it was approaching the small, rocky island.

Freefall was not strange for Kim Possible, however. The young, red-headed cheerleader had been jumping out of planes and descending tall mountains since she was fourteen years old and had the crazy thought of opening a website from which to offer babysitting services.

The feeling of freedom she got every time she parachuted was exhilarating. Like the whole world opened up to her while she fell and she could have it all in her grasp if she wanted. Not that she ever wanted to. The evil megalomaniac tendencies were left squarely up to her villains, who threatened the world more weeks than not. Still, the excitement of starting a new mission always enticed her as she wondered what globe trotting trek she'd have to go on this time.

Beside her, however, Ron tried to look cool and calm but he was sweating like a pig. Kim knew that most things on their missions made Ron nervous, but she respected his attempts not to show it.

She respected a lot of things about Ron. He wasn't like her, she knew. Where as she approached every danger and difficulty as a welcome challenge to overcome, Ron was much more jittery. He feared many things and would easier shy away from danger than embrace it. And yet, there he was, on all of her missions, standing beside her.

The castle below was quickly approaching and Kim looked to Ron to give him the sign to pull his ripcord. Ron nodded slowly and yanked on his cord. His pack jerked as the chute unfurled behind him catching air and opening wide. The sudden stop pulled Ron hard against the straps of his parachute, flinging his body with great force. The straps held strong for a moment, then began to tear loudly. A moment later and Ron was falling again.

Kim grimaced and released her own ripcord, instead slapping her arms to her sides and streamlining her body shape to increase her speed to catch up with Ron who was flailing wildly. Seconds later and she was upon him. Grabbing him firmly with both hands she pulled him against her chest and then reached around to open her parachute.

This time, as the huge rectangular cloth expanded, the chute straps held firm and slowed their fall considerable. Ron, hyperventilating, looked into Kim's eyes, so close, because of their embrace, to his own. She had a meaningful look to her, like something important was on her mind and it had to do with him. He grew still as she opened her mouth to speak.

"This is absolutely the last time I let you pack your own parachute," she said with an arched eyebrow.

----------------

Disney's Kim Possible in

**Disappearing Doctor**

By Adam Leigh

Part II: Finding Truths

----------------

Despite the drama up above, only two simple taps announced Kim and Ron's arrival on the castle's expansive helipad. Kim's parachute softly drifted away in the afternoon breeze as she and Ron quietly made their way into the dark abode. The afternoon light cast sharp shadows across the castle's halls and walls, causing Kim and Ron, in their black and olive colored combat gear, to almost vanish between windows.

"I can't say this is a step up from Bueno Nacho HQ," said Ron noticing the thick layer of dust on the floors and walls. "Well, not a step up for Drakken. Bueno Nacho is better than ever without him."

"This place is too empty," commented Kim. "Drakken never just moves-in, he always personalizes. He must not have been here too long."

A distant echo resolved into the sound of footsteps and Kim gazed forward, ready for the newcomer. Down the corridor, Kim could see a figure moving towards them. A woman, about Kim's height, was walking confidently with a pair of glowing fists that illuminated her in the shadows. Kim moved into defensive stance and steadied her breathing.

"Long enough to be kidnapped, Princess," said Shego as she drew nearer. The balls of energy around her hands grew slightly as she approached. She had a smile that seemed to convey no sense of ease to the pair of teens observing. Her pace quickened suddenly and she launched herself into the air, her hands curled like claws as she descended on the cheerleader.

Kim leapt to the side to dodge Shego's first swing and flipped backwards to avoid follow-up sweep kick. Immediately she rolled behind her attacker and tried to grab the green-suited woman.

Shego could only smile as she grabbed the hands coming for her and tossed them over her head. Kim flew through the air but then righted herself and landed gracefully. Shego was already advancing by the time Kim looked up and decided to do a roundhouse kick that only missed her target by mere micrometers.

Shego lunged forward with her claws ready and crackling with energy. Kim had to grab her forearms to avoid from getting burned but didn't have the leverage to do much else. Kim struggled as Shego pinned her to the floor, her glowing fists only inches from her face.

"Ron thought this might be a trap," said Kim through her teeth. "I guess he was right."

"Hah," laughed Shego. "This isn't a trap."

Kim frowned and grit her teeth. "Uh, luring me out to a deserted island and then attacking me. Hello? Trap, much?"

Shego shook her head, her wild black hair falling all over Kim's face. "I didn't lure you here." She stopped suddenly. "Wait a minute, where Stoppable?"

"Here!" Ron's voice suddenly came from beside the struggling pair. He was wielding a rather hefty looking piece of wood. By the time Shego turned her head to see it was already too late. Ron struck the ninja-like sidekick with the board and sent her flying. She rolled across the floor and collided with the far wall, landing in a heap.

Kim sighed as Ron helped her up. "Thanks, Ron."

"Don't count me out yet," came an annoyed voice. Shego's hands ignited with green energy again. "I'm just getting warmed--"

"Hey!"

Shego froze and slowly turned to look behind her. Kim and Ron, equally surprised, gazed as well.

"I thought you said you wouldn't mind working with her," said Mama Lipsky as she slowly made her way up to Shego. "As long as she was helping us."

Shego grimaced. "Now I know I'd never say a thing like that. Maybe 'tolerate her' is closer to the truth."

"Shego," warned the mother. "You can play all you want once Drew is safely home."

"Yah, whatever," said Shego dismissively.

"Now, Kim Possible," started Mama Lipsky. "I'm sorry Shego attacked you, this wasn't supposed to be an evil scheme."

"Okay," Kim ventured, wearily.

"I hope, since you've come all this way, you'll help us find my son, Drew."

"We'll see what we can do. It's possible he might not want to be found." Kim looked to Ron for support who only shrugged. "Anyway, what makes you think he's missing?"

"Drew didn't call me on Sunday," said Mrs. Lipsky conclusively. "He normally calls me every Sunday."

Kim stared. "Every Sunday?"

"Every Sunday."

"Hmmm." Kim pondered for a moment but then Shego interrupted.

"Okay, listen, Kimmie, however crazy you might find this, Dr. D _is_ gone. He did buy this island but after that nobody has seen him. I can't imagine why anyone would kidnap him, but the only other alternative is that is he's off scheming without me, which I thought I trained him not to do." Shego scowled for a moment. "This isn't a trap of any sort, so let's skip all the suspicious parts and get right to the end where we find Dr. D so I can go back to my vacation and you can go back to... whatever it is stuck-up princesses like you do."

"Hey!" said Kim, insulted.

"Be nice, Shego," Mama Lipsky said.

Shego just rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever."

"If we assume Dra--Drew," Kim corrected herself, "was taken, there must be some evidence behind. I guess we should search the castle."

"Woah, hold up, KP," said Ron. "This isn't exactly a two bedroom ranch. This castle is huge! It could take days to comb over the whole thing."

"Well, we don't have any leads yet, Ron," explained Kim. "And somehow I doubt whoever took him is going to offer a ransom."

"Actually," interjected Mama Lipsky. "There is a way to limit how much of the castle you need to check."

Everyone turned to stare at her. After a few moments Shego got impatient. "Well? What is it?"

"Oh, I-- I thought you were going to guess," Mrs. Lipsky said, abashed. "Just look around, my Drew has never been all too good at picking up after himself."

Kim looked down and saw. Spread out around her were wisps and tiny piles of dust, pushed around and flung while she was fighting with Shego. Further down the corridor, however, the dust was spread thin like a microscopic sheet covering the stone tiles, only a single set of footprints disturbed the surface.

"The dust," said Kim at last. "We only need to follow the footprints in the dust."

Shego stood tall but stared at the floor, intrigued. "Will you look at that?"

"Spread out, guys," Kim said, taking charge. "Look for anything suspicious."

Kim and Ron followed a path heading back towards the entrance. Shego was about to follow a slightly less-trod hallway off towards he great room when she noticed the elderly Lipsky standing still.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" said Shego, irritated.

The woman smiled. "Oh no, I'm afraid I'm well past my prime for things like this. I'd much rather leave it to the next generation." She turned and headed back the way she came. "If you need me, I'll be at your jet."

Shego grumbled loudly and stalked away from the junction they were at. Half watching the footsteps and half coming up with fancy ways of making Drakken pay for putting her through this, she didn't have enough halves of her brain to notice the female figure standing in front of her until she was toe to toe with the heroine.

"Move it, Pumpkin," she scowled. "I'm not getting any younger." Her mind briefly returned to the beach she met Mama Lipsky on and shivered. "Although if I had the option, I'd take it," she added.

"What's really going on here, Shego?" demanded Kim. "Skulking around old castles, Dr. Drakken's _mother_, of all people, posting to my website, you doing... well, I'm not sure about you, yet."

Shego laughed once. "As much as it probably kills you, there's no scheme this time, Princess. 'Andy' over there got you involved in this the same way she got me involved. Oh, and for the record, she didn't tell me she posted to your website until AFTER we were flying here."

"Who would want to take Drakken?" Kim pressed on. "I mean, really, he's usually the one doing the taking."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's just lost in one of those gigantic 24-hour Smarty Marts." Shego sidestepped Kim and continued following the footprints in the dust.

"If he's not really missing, then why are we here!"

"Because 'you can do anything!'" mocked Shego in a singsong voice. "Even search for a man who isn't missing." She quickened her pace and left an exasperated Kim Possible behind her.

A few minutes later Ron came running up. "KP!" he called, breaking her out of her daze.

"What's up, Ron? Did you find something?"

Ron nodded. "Rufus found something out by the door to the helipad." Ron held out Rufus hands as the naked mole rat in his rummaged around and eventually held up and tuft of hair.

Kim raised an eyebrow. "Hair?"

Rufus shook his head. "Uhn-uh, uhn-uh. Fur!"

"Hmm," Kim studied the sample then pulled out her Kimmunicator. "Wade?"

The screen jumped to life. "What's up, Kim?"

"I've got a sample of fur I'd like you to analyze, see if you can pick some trace evidence."

The sample tray slid out of the front of the Kimmunicator. "Put the sample on the pad and I'll test it," said Wade. Kim dropped the fur onto the dish. "Should only take a few moments." The tray slid silently shut.

Wade frowned. "What is it?" asked Kim to the puzzled expression.

"I'm not seeing very much here as far as trace goes," admitted Wade. "But you should know, its dog fur."

"Dog fur?" asked Kim.

Wade grinned. "Not just any dog, actually."

-----------

Dr. Drakken fidgeted in the cold steel chair he'd been fastened to. Time had passed excruciatingly slowly since being brought to this large, subterranean evil lair. Nobody had talked to him, even when Drakken was yelling earlier, and now he had a sore throat, which made every second longer.

The blue-skinned hostage looked around as best he could at the lair. It was stylish, he had to admit. Large monitors, dark corners, a heavy interest in red colors where Drakken had always preferred blues. The whole place had a 1960's Mod-appearance, which led the Doctor to conclude he hadn't been taken by a 'Mad Scientist'-type villain, but, in fact, the 'Criminal Mastermind'-type.

"Ah, Mr. Lipsky," came that deep voice from the dark shadows in front of Drakken. "Sorry to make you wait, but I had a few errands to run. You didn't mind, did you?"

Drakken growled. "That's Dr. Drakken to you! And it's poor form, I tell you! Making me wait here after kidnapping me! Couldn't you delegate?"

The figured laughed casually and stepped into the reddish light that was shining down on the metal chair. The man was just as stocky as Drakken remembered his shadow being, but he was wearing a somewhat silly looking purple-colored jumpsuit with a bold white stripe down the center and carrying a small, seemingly terrified Chihuahua in one hand. An eye patch covered his left eye -- explaining the pit of blackness Drakken had seen at night -- and he had a well groomed goatee surrounding a menacing smile.

"I like to personally ensure that my plans against Global Justice go smoothly." The dog in his hands began barking loudly and the tall ominous man suddenly curled in on himself as he cradled the pup against his chest and pet it tenderly. "Aww... I'm sorry Pepe, I didn't mean to bring up our awful nemesis organization. Coo? Coo? It's okay, calm down. Shhhhhh, it's okay."

Drakken blanched and started to wonder who exactly had kidnapped him. "Uh... Global who? I'm sorry, who were you again? I know you said it earlier..."

The man frowned but stood firm again. "I am Gemini," he announced majestically. "Global--!" he stopped abruptly, looking down at the shaking Chihuahua in his arm. "THAT organization I mentioned before is a large do-gooding agency dedicated to stopping criminal activities around the planet. They are notoriously well equipped and have been a thorn in this planet's criminal activities for a long time."

Gemini turned and motioned to the facilities and henchmen around him. "That's why I have created WWEE, to combat their efforts to control humanity and make them adhere to their concept of 'justice.'" He looked back at Drakken. "Naturally, you've heard of us."

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "Uh... Whee? Hrm, Shego's usually the one that remembers the names."

"WWEE is the World Wide Evil Empire! Our influence stretches across the globe, combating that nefarious espionage organization at every turn. One day, we will bring them to their knees and I will have their leader, Dr. Director here begging for mercy." Gemini trembled once then began cackling loudly.

"And they call me a 'mad' scientist," murmured Drakken, then spoke up. "I don't see why you kidnapped me."

"You're going to help me, of course," said Gemini smoothly. "If you won't, I'll torture you until you do."

"Eh, torture?" said Drakken. "You could have just asked me to join, or paid me. I do contract work from time to time. I am evil too after all."

"You are?" questioned Gemini.

"Of COURSE I am!" bellowed Drakken. He hesitated. "You have a GLOBAL criminal empire and you've never heard of 'Dr. Drakken?'"

Gemini frowned.

"Drakken," continued the doctor. "D - R - A - K - K - E - N."

Gemini shook his head.

"I nearly took over the world three months ago! I own Bueno Nacho!"

"Ah!" said Gemini suddenly. "That was you? I thought it was Dr. Dementor."

Drakken vibrated. "You've heard of Dr. Dementor but not me? ME! The nemesis of the insufferable Kim Possible?"

"Wait, Kim Possible... that name is familiar." Gemini's eye widened. "The Ron Factor!"

"No, that's not it," grumbled Drakken, then brightened. "Oh, wait, the buffoon! Yes, that might be his name."

"Intriguing," mused Gemini, rubbing his goatee absentmindedly.

"Why did you kidnap me if you didn't know anything about me?" asked Drakken.

"I never said I knew nothing about you," snapped Gemini. He walked into the shadows in front of Drakken, disappearing from view. A moment later and another spotlight came on, illuminating a large console filled with buttons and a large, comfortable looking chair. Drakken thought of the hard steel beneath him and envied the leather covered plush seat.

Gemini sat at the console and pressed one of a myriad of buttons on the ring shaped console. A screen lit up displaying a tiny dot that quickly grew into a large bug-shaped machine. "I have heard, _Dr._ Drakken, that you are capable of making a powerful explosive that's small enough to fit onto the back of a nanite."

"Hm?" Drakken looked curious for a moment. "Oh, yes. Yes I can. That was years ago, though. I tried to attach it to the back of a robotic tick but I lost the prototype thanks to Kim Possible."

"A tick?" Gemini frowned. "What purpose would that serve? Ticks are hardly mobile, unless your target likes to run through tall grass."

"Hmph," sounded Drakken. "It was just a prototype, the production model would have been way cool." He pouted.

"Be that as it may, are you still capable of creating the explosive?"

"Yes, of course," snapped Drakken, still sounding sad.

"Then perhaps we can come to an agreement," Gemini said smoothly. "One evil villain to another."

"I'm listening," replied Drakken, as he could do very little else from where he was.

"Make me some of these explosives, say, a hundred of them, and I'll cut you in on the prize." Gemini smiled evilly.

"A hundred! That could take days!" Drakken frowned. "Do you have a hundred nanite ticks for them to be attached to?"

"Forget the ticks!" yelled Gemini, then returned to his calm appearance. "I have a much more... elegant delivery system." He pressed another button on his console and the screen was replaced.

"Oh," said Drakken, raising his eyebrows. "Yes, much more elegant."

-----------

It was never really her intention to find out, but Shego was impressed that her jet could carry four people. The cockpit had been modified recently to accommodate two comfortably, and she figured three might push it, but she was able to squeeze Ron Stopple, Mama Lipsky, and Kim Possible into the confined space with her quite easily.

Comfort, however, was another issue.

"Are you grabbing my butt, Mrs. Lipsky?" Ron said, petrified, from the rear seat.

"Please, sonny, I'm doing nothing of the sort," said the elder woman. "Something does seem to be moving around in your pocket, however."

"Rufus!" yelled Ron as he tried to wiggle himself to allow the pants leg pocket room to breathe.

"Ron!" called Kim from the front seat. "Not so loud!" She tried to crane her head to look back but failed.

"Stop moving, Princess," said Shego, angrily. She looked angry too, maybe even furious. Of all the humiliation that Dr. Drakken put her through, the thought of her own past being exposed and ruining her nicely villainous street-cred, and the shame of being forced to work with her nemesis, nothing compared the embarrassment of having Kim Possible sit on her lap as she piloted her jet.

"Sorry," grumbled Kim, who wasn't feeling any better about this situation than Shego had been. She tried to remember whose dumb idea this was, then blushed.

'I'm not waiting for one of your stupid rides to show up, I'm leaving,' Shego had yelled.

'I thought we were supposed to be working together,' complained Kim. 'I know people who can help us track down Gemini, we'd get this over with quicker if you stuck with me.'

'Well I'm stick of hanging around here and waiting, we'll just take my jet.'

'Your jet is built for two, there are four of us!' Kim motioned angrily to Mrs. Lipsky and Ron.

'Aw, what's a matter, Pumpkin,' goaded Shego. 'Too chubby to squeeze?'

'I am not chubby,' replied Kim, defiantly. 'Flying a jet is a complicated matter and weight is an integral part of it.'

'Hah, I can compensate. I can fly that baby with my eyes closed. You're just worried you'll cause us nose dive.'

'Am I not.'

'Prove it, Princess," sneered Shego.

'FINE.'

"This was really a bad idea," Kim said quietly, returning to the present.

Shego glared up at her. "Yes, it was," she said through gritted teeth. "I'm thinking when this day is over we will never speak of it again."

"Agreed," Kim said with a nod, then looked out the front of the jet. "There's the landing strip."

"I see it." Shego grumbled something under her breath and then began her descent.

"What was that?" asked Kim, annoyed.

"I said the weight is throwing me off, okay?"

"Hah!" Kim gloated. She wasn't normally like this, but then again she'd never had to work with Shego so closely before and it was driving her insane.

"One more word outta you, Kimmie, and I'll just eject."

Kim sighed and remained quiet through the landing, just to make things go quicker. Once they were on the ground and parked, Kim leapt from the jet as soon as the canopy opened. A moment later and Shego landed beside her.

"Freedom," they both said under their breaths. The stared at one another like each had grown an extra limb during the flight.

"Uh, KP?" said Ron from the jet.

Kim up at him and noticed him staring ahead. Looking around, she noticed the two dozen blue suited agents pointing guns at they group. She caught Shego's hands flaring up in her peripheral vision.

"Some welcome party," Shego said slowly getting into attack position.

"Hold on, Shego," Kim held up a hand, then stepped forward. "Hey, I'm Kim Possible. I called ahead to Dr. Director, we should be all cleared to go."

One of the forward agents, a burly man with short black hair nodded. "We remember you, Ms. Possible. You're free to go ahead and meet with the Director."

"Then what's all this for?" she motioned to the men.

The forward soldier stared intently at Shego. "They're for _her_."

"Me?" Shego said, then smiled. "I'm flattered there are so many of you. But I'm actually working _with_ Ms. Princess today, so stand aside."

"'fraid not, ma'am," replied the agent. "We can't let you into GJ HQ."

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?" Shego started to get angrier.

"Just what you are doing."

Shego's hands flared brighter as she started growling.

"Shego!" yelled Kim. "Please, just... play nice while I find out what's going on?"

"I'm not your sidekick," she said between growls. "Don't even think about ordering me around."

Kim just put her hand to her forehead. "Ron? Mrs. Lipsky? Let's... just go."

The rear passengers quickly descended the ladder on the side of the jet and hopped the ground. Ron, decidedly not used to having guns pointed at him, carefully avoided getting anywhere near the agents. Mrs. Lipsky, however, simply strolled past smiling kindly at the men.

The trio got a few steps past the group of GJ agents when Kim heard Shego speak. "So, who's going to 'play nice' with me first?"

Kim turned to scold Shego again when suddenly the ground opened up and swallowed them whole. The dark shaft seemed to go on for eternity as Ron and Mrs. Lipsky yelled loudly through the entire drop. A few seconds past when Kim was convinced they were going to become a splat on the pavement, the tunnel began to curve and eventually spat them out onto a large billowy landing pad.

Kim flopped her hair back and looked around, recognizing the characteristic command center of Global Justice. The slim, commanding, one-eyed Dr. Director stood before her, completing the setting.

"Welcome back, Kim Possible," she said, "to Global Justice."

Dr. Director held out a hand to Kim. The teen took it readily and was helped up. Behind her, Ron was already helping Mrs. Lipsky to stand on the poofy material.

"Thanks, Dr. Director," said Kim dusting herself off. "What was all that with Shego, though?"

"Sorry, Kim," replied the stern agent. "We can't allow an active villain to see the interior of GJ HQ if we can help it. While we do afford some hospitality to 'retired' villains," she glanced at Mrs. Lipsky just once, "active agents of evil are strictly off-limits. Too many secrets are kept here."

"I'm just concerned Shego may decide to go all Terminator on your agents up there."

"Don't worry about that," shrugged Dr. Director. "GJ agents are well trained fighters, they can handle one villain."

Kim had some other ideas about the ability of GJ agents, but she kept it to herself for the moment. Kim and Dr. Director started moving into the command center while a number of other GJ agents appeared, somewhat out of nowhere, and escorted Ron and Mrs. Lipsky away. Kim was going to ask why but hesitated. She trusted Dr. Director, right?

"So, you got Wade's message," said Kim. "We think that Gemini has kidnapped Dr. Drakken, as bizarre as that sounds."

"It does seem strange," agreed Dr. Director. "Although our analysis did conclude that Dr. Drakken is a capable scientist when given the proper environment."

"It did?" Kim tried not to appear shocked. "Were these the same analysts that 'discovered' the Ron Factor?"

"Yes, why?"

"Oh, no reason," Kim smiled and looked around casually. Despite their sometimes questionable calculations, she had to respect GJ. They were a huge organization and very dedicated to the cause of world crime fighting. It was more than she could say for herself in any case. Sure, she'd run at a moment's notice to stop a flood or fight a threatening enemy, but she stilled cared about her personal life and her potential future career quite a bit. She couldn't close herself into a room and monitor for crimes 24/7 the way some GJ agents did.

"So you think that Gemini kidnapped him for his scientific knowledge?" asked Kim, getting back to the topic at hand.

"It's quite possible. After the recent Bueno Nacho affair, Drakken should be showing up on many more people's radar. Even Gemini's."

The two walked over to a central console and Dr. Director began calling up some images. "Unfortunately, Kim, we don't know where Gemini's current hideout is. I've had agents searching through his last few bases of operation but have found no clues yet as to his current whereabouts. You know how notorious he is for evading GJ monitoring."

"Yes. A little bit of sibling intuition, no doubt." Kim nodded sagely. "As a sister to twins, believe me, it's sometimes supernatural how similar they think."

"I agree," said Dr. Director. "Which is why I've removed myself from any of the security and surveillance details. The less I'm involved I figure the less Gemini will be able to figure out."

"Not a bad idea. Still no luck tracking him down, though."

"As you say." The Director nodded.

"Hmm..." Kim looked at the wide array of scans going on simultaneously. Some of the brightest minds, she was told, worked in this very center. It was impressive.

"You know, Kim," Dr. Director interrupted her thoughts. "I understand you've just started your senior year of high school and you're probably thinking about what you're going to do after you graduate."

Kim frowned. "It's crossed my mind."

"I was hoping that you'd consider possibly joining us here at GJ."

"Me?" Kim blinked. "A GJ agent? Well, uh, that's sudden."

"Not at all," insisted Dr. Director. "You've already demonstrated exemplary ability above and beyond even some of my best agents, as well as a strong will to fight injustice. On both occasions you've assisted us there has been nothing but high praise for your work. Even Agent Commander Will Du reluctantly admitted to your deeds on his evaluation."

Kim was blushing at the attention the older woman was now showing upon her. "Dr. Director--"

"Furthermore, you have a completely clean record for innocent injury or death as well as never having resorted to lethal force against an enemy occupying a superior position. That represents an unshakable ethical foundation. I can only hope one day to relieve my position to someone as worthy as you."

"Please!" Kim desperately tried to stop Dr. Director before she felt even more embarrassed. "I'm flattered. Really, I am! I just... I wasn't expecting this and I can't commit to anything right now."

"Understandable," agreed Dr. Director. "I just hope you keep it in mind for the future. Consider it a standing invitation."

Kim smiled. "Thanks, I ... I appreciate it." She looked up at the myriad of screens. She just wasn't sure yet if saving the world was the only thing she wanted to do with her life.

-----------

"So what do you two do with my son anyway? You two seem to know him quite well."

"What do... KP and I do with Drew?" Ron paused and tried to come up with any way to answer that question without coming up with a complicated lie. When that failed, he tried to come up with a complicated lie.

When that failed, he moved onto distractions. "Hey look," he pointed suddenly at a monitor they were walking past. "Middleton High. That's where KP and I go to school. I guess it makes sense to monitor it, so many crazy things happen there."

"It's a nice looking school," said Mrs. Lipsky with a smile.

"It is," nodded Ron. "If you go for crazy substitute teachers, inedible food, and suddenly no parking in the senior's lot." He paused. "Other than that, yes, very nice."

The GJ agents that escorted them away from the command center led them to a fairly large office. A sizable, but empty, table lay to one side with several chairs surrounding it. Charts and graphs covered the walls and stacks of papers and reports were sitting in the center of the room surrounding a single, slender, blond haired GJ agent lying on the floor and reading. She was mumbling to herself as she read aloud, casually kicking her legs as they curled up behind her.

The decidedly more masculine GJ agent that led Ron and Mrs. Lipsky in coughed loudly to get the blonde's attention. "Agent Grimes," the man said, motioning to the two guests.

The blonde perked up and leapt to her feet. "Oh, you're here!" She jumped over the stacks of papers and ran over to Mrs. Lipsky. "Hi, I'm Agent Vicki Grimes."

"I'm Angela Lipsky, dear," said the senior. "It's nice to..." she started to say but the agent's attention had left to focus on Ron.

"Hey," Ron said casually. "I'm--"

"Ronald Stoppable," Vicki finished. "It's great to finally meet you." She shook his hand vigorously. "I've been studying your work, it's all very complex."

"My... work?" Ron looked confused. The agent simply motioned to the piles of paper she was previously surrounded by. "Uh... is this about the time I was hit by that smarty ray? 'Cause it turned out that was actually just Rufus."

Vicki shook her head. "Smarty ray? Hmm, I haven't read that case file yet. No, this is about picking up potentially powerful research that had previously been abandoned." She backed off and reached into the pile of papers and pulled out a worn manila folder. She held it up for inspection.

"The Ron Factor, report 1 of 217," Ron read aloud. "Oh, no, I thought this was over!"

"It was," confirmed Agent Grimes. "I resurrected it."

"'Ron Factor?'" asked Mrs. Lipsky. "You have your own 'factor?'"

"No," Ron said vehemently. "This is just something GJ was looking into a year or so ago. They concluded it wasn't true. At least, I thought they did." He shook his head. "Kim is a success because she can do anything, it doesn't have to do with me."

"Oh, but it does," insisted Vicki. "The research just took the wrong approach. Our teams tried to pin all of Kim's success on you, which was unfair. The key, at least what I believe to be the key, is the combination of you and Kim that leads to repeatable success."

"My, that sounds very interesting," Mama Lipsky said. "Reminds me of schemes from my youth." She had a dreamy look in her eyes for a moment before it cleared. "I don't suppose you have a bathroom?"

Vicki motioned to the door. "It's just down the hall, one of the posted agents will show you."

"Thank you, dear." The elder woman nodded happily and slowly padded out of the office.

"Her youth?" questioned Ron after she was out of earshot. "What does that mean?"

"You mean you don't know?" said Vicki strangely. "I mean, about Angela Lipsky nee Kelly?"

"Should I?" Ron said, feeling unsettled. "We don't really dig into the families of our villains. It's impolite."

"I suppose not. It's not a big deal anyway. 'No longer a factor.'" She seemed almost sad, then perked up. "Anyway, back to you."

"No, I'm not doing any more tests or wearing crazy clothes anymore." Ron folded his arms definitively. "You GJ-folks seem to be fine without our help anyway."

"But this could be the key to improving our agent bonding parameters!" Vicki clasped her hands over Ron's. "Please, you have to let me observe you!"

Ron swallowed, looking into Vicki's pleading eyes. He realized not but a few months ago he would have done anything to have a young, attractive blonde shower him with this much attention. Even if it was attention from the clearly insane. Now, he shook his head.

"I don't see how it will help," he said.

"Let me show you," the Agent said, chipper again, and grabbed Ron's hand to drag him to her desk. She raised a tall screen from the previously seamless surface and showed a series of schematics and graphs that Ron absolutely didn't understand.

"When a class of agents is recruited," she began. "Our computers process a very complicated, time consuming algorithm to pair agents together as partners. The program has been developed and refined over the last few decades to create the perfect team. Agents always work better in pairs and the more socially agreeable the pair is, the more time they spend together and the better they can anticipate each other's moves in a tense situation."

"Okay," Ron said, understanding the part about making teams that don't hate each other and glossing over the rest. He figured he'd deciphered the important part. "So you figure Kim and I can help you make your program better."

"Better?" scoffed Vicki. "Completely replace it!"

"Okay, I'm confused again," announced Ron.

"During the initial evaluation of 'The Ron Factor,' we ran you and Kim's profile through our algorithm."

"Perfect match, right?" Ron smiled.

"No!" said the agent with glee. "Actually, it was a complete and utter rejection. Our algorithm saw no correlation between you and Kim that could account for the synergy we strive for in our agent pairs. Their conclusion from that analysis was that either you or Kim caused your success but not both."

"Oh," Ron deflated. "So what do you think?"

"I think our algorithm is superficial," she said quietly. "I believe that you and Kim together make your missions successful which means that there is something about you two that our computer was unable to assess. In short, all these years and we've been looking in entirely the wrong place."

Vicki brought up a long proposal onto the translucent screen. "I want to lead a team to redesign our Agent Pairing System but I need some hard data that my approach has merit before Dr. Director will give me funding." She turned and looked at Ron again, pleading. "Please, I need your help to get this project started."

Ron sighed. "Maybe I could spare some time," he admitted. "Just to get you started, though."

"Yes!"

"Oh, pardon me," came Mama Lipsky's voice from the doorway. She stared wide eyed at Ron and Vicki standing closely together staring at the monitor. She suddenly looked concerned. "Aren't you getting a little personal with that Agent, young Stoppable? I thought you were dating that Possible girl."

"Er, no," said Ron, off guard, then recovered. "I mean, yes, I am dating Kim, but I'm just helping Agent Grimes with some GJ work. Nothing personal." He smiled reassuringly then frowned as he saw Vicki scribbling frantically in a notepad. "What's wrong?"

"Mmm?" she muttered. "Oh, uh-- our recent data hadn't revealed you had begun dating Kim. I need to make sure our records are valid if we're going to make an appropriate algorithm."

Ron blinked. "Whatever."

"Hey guys," Kim's voice now fluttered in beside Mama Lipsky. The taller Dr. Director was also there, standing behind her. "We're ready to go now."

"Right on, KP," Ron said energetically and ran over to her. He turned back to Vicki. "When this thing with Gemini is over, let me know how I can help your research."

"Okay," the agent replied, forcing a smile and waving.

The Team Possible plus Mama Lipsky group departed her office as Vicki fell into her chair. She tossed her notepad on her desk and quickly searched for another report to occupy herself with.

The notepad, sitting silently, read: "He's dating HER. You're too late. Dammit!"

-----------

Shego breathed deeply. Two dozen GJ agents and barely a scratch on her. She was feeling great! Just the sort of de-stressing agent -- pun intended -- she needed after spending the last few days with Andy Lipsky. The old crony was insistent, refusing to let Shego do anything except search for her 'lost' son. Even Drakken never bossed her around so hard.

She still couldn't figure out how she lost control of the situation either. She was a strong willed woman with a take-charge attiude that had always made sure she was the one really pulling the strings between herself and Dr. Drakken. This senior citizen, despite being frail and barely capable of running, had manipulated Shego into doing her bidding without even raising a finger.

If she wasn't the one being manipulated, she could almost have envied her ability. As it was, she was just short of massacring the woman.

Thankfully, the GJ agents lying around her satisfied her urge to do violence. And they would all recover in time, since Shego made sure not to do them any permanent harm. It was really pathetic anyway, to think that any number of them could face her. To have maimed or killed any of them would have been like beating a sick puppy. No sport at all.

She wished at least one of them had Kimmie's skill, then at least she wouldn't have had to hold back. Not that she liked the do-gooder for anything other than fighting, but she was a superb fighter. Nobody came as close to Shego's skills as Kim Possible.

"Shego!" a voice run in the silence of the empty runway. Well, empty of anyone conscious. Shego looked up in time to see Kim and her sidekick, a few GJ agents, and that shrew drive up in a jeep. Kim hopped down from the jeep and looked angry. "I told you to play nice."

Come on, come at me, Shego thought. I'm all warmed up and ready for a _real_ fight. If I get back in that jet with Andy Lipsky I'll have nothing but pent up rage for days, so at least give me this one challenge before I gotta suffer again.

"They'll live," Shego said instead. Then smiled and added, "I think."

Kim just put her hand to her forehead and sighed. "Dr. Director is offering us a ride home, so please just take Mrs. Lipsky back."

Shego paused. "Do I have to?" From the jeep, Mama Lipsky glared at her. "O-kay." So much for the challenge. "Come on, Andy."

Kim helped the senior woman down from the Jeep and then up again into Shego's jet. As she was climbing back down Shego stuck her head out of the cockpit and looked at her. "So what about this Gemini guy?" she asked.

"GJ is looking for him right now and I've got Wade scanning the net." Kim jumped down to the concrete runway. "If he surfaces, we'll get him."

"That's it? Just waiting around?" Shego thought about every extra hour she'd have to spend with Mrs. Lipsky and her determination to find Dr. Drakken increased tenfold. "That's crap. I've got my own ideas of how to handle this." She pushed her helmet onto her head and closed the cockpit canopy.

Inside the jet, Shego vibrated with anger. "I told you she wouldn't be any help," she yelled back at Mama Lipsky.

"She found out about Gemini, didn't she?" replied the elder ex-criminal smoothly. "And visiting GJ headquarters was fun! I never got to do that in the old days."

"At least they let you inside," grumbled Shego, igniting her engines and throttling up. "I had to 'play nice' with their agents."

"It all worked out in the end," concluded Mrs. Lipsky, happily.

Shego could only sign. "It's not over yet."


	3. Part III Extracurriculars

The early morning rays of sunlight streamed into the Possible family kitchen bathing the room in a warm yellow glow. Dr. Possible was already sitting at the table eating a simple breakfast and paging through the morning paper even as the first shards of sun were visible on the horizon.

He was definitely a morning person, he concluded to himself. Even in college, he was early to bed and early to rise, eager to face each day's challenges and find their solutions. His parents had made sure he knew the family mantra: "Anything's Possible for a Possible!" Dr. Possible simply felt that if anything was possible, why waste time sleeping when work could be done?

Still, there were other reasons he had to get his morning toast and coffee just as the sun rose.

"Good morning, daddy," said the doctor's seventeen-year-old redheaded daughter as she swiftly swept into the kitchen. She made a bee-line to the 'fridge where she was extracting a pair of slices of wheat bread with one hand an pouring a glass of orange juice with the other.

"Good morning, Kimmiecub. I heard you come in late last night, you weren't out with any boys were you?" Dr. Possible sounded serious but it was hard for anyone to know for sure, as he remained barricaded behind his paper. "Well, aside from Ronald."

"No big, dad, I was just out late at GJ HQ." She sipped her juice as she deposited her bread in the toaster then paused, carefully re-examining the toaster. She knew that often appliances were being replaced in the house thanks to a family of eccentric inventors, but this was the first on she'd seen with engines. "Uh, the tweebs haven't been up yet, have they?"

"Haven't seen 'em yet, sweetie."

Kim felt something was wrong, but she pushed down her toast all the same. Immediately afterwards the 'toaster' began rumbling then suddenly the engines exploded with fire and the chrome box took flight. Spinning around erratically, the contraption bounced off several walls and the fridge while narrowly missing Kim's head and tearing a small section of Dr. Possible's paper.

Kim grabbed a cast iron skillet and was about to put down the rabid toaster when it suddenly died in mid air and came crashing to the floor.

"Cool!" a pair of voices echoed from the hall. A pair of twins, one dressed in red, the other in green, ran into the room and stood over the smoking remains of breakfast. "I TOLD you it would work with wheat!" said the one in red.

"The white bread lasted longer through," corrected the one in green.

"Boys," said Dr. Possible, putting his paper down. "What have I said about explosives in the house?"

"Aww, dad," they whined in symphony. Only Jim continued, "it was only a small amount of explosives; the bread is what catalyzed the reaction."

"Bread?" Dr. Possible, rocket scientist, paused mid-scolding. "How did you use bread as a catalyst for a rocket fuel?"

"More importantly," interrupted Kim, her hands on her hips. "What are you going to do about my breakfast, tweebs?"

Tim looked at the chrome rocket again and kicked it slightly. The pair of slices of bread shot up into the air and he snatched them quickly. They were black rectangles where once had been edible crushed wheat. "Uh, do you like them extra crispy?" the twin asked.

----------------

Disney's Kim Possible in

**Disappearing Doctor**

By Adam Leigh

Part III: Extracurriculars

----------------

"No way," said Ron as he and Kim were walking to school. "A real GJ agent? That's totally cool!"

"I guess," said Kim looking sheepish. "I didn't really commit to anything but, I mean, really Ron, do you see me as a GJ agent?"

"Is this a trick question? KP, you'd be like, the ultimate GJ agent. You've already got more experience than any of them and, I mean, come on, you remember Will Du, their 'top agent' at the time?"

"Yeah," Kim nodded. "It's not that I don't see the parallels between what they're doing and what we do, Ron, but it's just how intense they are about it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." she struggled for a moment. "Like school. I like going to school. I like doing cheerleading and I'm starting to like history. Wouldn't I have to give up all those things if I was going to be fighting crime full time?"

"Did Dr. Director say you would have to?" asked Ron.

"Well, no."

"I don't think GJ would really demand you give up the things you love, KP. And if my experiences yesterday are any sign, it seems like a lot of agents have quite a lot of spare time on their hands." Ron rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about the lovely, but obsessed, Agent Grimes.

"I don't know," Kim shook her head. "At least I don't have to decide anything now. Dr. Director said I could choose to join at any time."

The two students approached the Middleton High entrance and noticed Mr. Barkin standing by the doorway watching as students filed past.

"Then don't worry about it," said Ron. "Right now, you should be worried about that crazy look in Barkin's eyes. I think he very well may snap us in two for cutting on the first day of class."

"So not the drama, Ron," shrugged Kim. "Well, maybe for you, since you had detention."

"Oh my god, I completely forgot!" Ron grabbed his face. "That's it, I'll just have to run away now, and leave this life behind."

"Ron!"

"I mean it KP, I've seen that look in a man's eyes before. He's going to 'pull me aside for guidance' and then they'll find my body in the river later this week." Ron shivered.

"What river?" asked Kim with a smile. "Come on, we both cut, we might as well face it together." She held out a hand. "I'd hate for you to have to leave me behind."

Ron looked at Kim and then the hand. He held it, carefully. "Well, all right, but if both end up in the river, it is SO your fault."

Almost like clockwork, as soon as they were within view, Barkin hollered out to them. "Stoppable! Possible!" He thundered over to them. "You'd better come with me."

Ron swallowed, then whispered to Kim, "See? Taking us aside to do the dirty deed."

"Ron, please?" she whispered back.

Barkin only pulled them into an empty hallway, instead of the torture chamber that Ron envisioned, but that didn't make him feel any safer.

"I'm curious to know," Barkin began, staring down at the two students. "What exactly the sort of punishment you think I should deliver to students who can't even make it through the first day of classes without breaking the rules?"

"Uh, a slap on the wrist and a firm warning?" Ron offered. Barkin's stare made him feel three inches tall and he wilted immediately.

"Please, Mr. Barkin," pleaded Kim. "It was an emergency! Someone needed our help."

"I'm sure that makes you feel very popular, Possible," Barkin looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "But here you have an obligation to learn, and to do that, you have to attend your classes. There are no exceptions. When someone breaks the rules, there are consequences. In this case, I thin--"

"Mr. Barkin!"

The tall muscular teacher paused then turned to see who'd called his name. Kim and Ron looked past the burly teacher to see his polar opposite, the tall and thin Dr. Rick running up behind him.

"Dr. Vedas," said Barkin, sizing up the interruption. "Just a moment, I'm delivering reprimands." He turned to continue talking to the students.

"Actually," persisted Rick. "I was going to suggest that you might be lenient on these two."

"Lenient," repeated Barkin, as if he'd never spoken it before.

"I'm sure you read the news," continued the taller man. "You know how often these two are off being good Samaritans to just about anyone who asks. Even fighting crimes that leave our better agencies of justice challenged."

"None of that is relevant within these halls." Barkin's eyes narrowed. "Public schooling is governed by rules--"

"Which have been broken." Dr. Rick nodded and casually slipped between Barkin and the students. "Which is why I haven't told you to forget their crimes, but to merely give them a reduced punishment. I know they're going to work twice as hard to make sure they haven't missed anything, isn't that right, kids?"

Kim and Ron looked puzzled for a moment then immediately turned up the 'innocent child' meter. "Of course, Dr. Vedas," Kim said, dramatically. "I couldn't imagine missing a single lesson."

"Yeah, I've got the learning bug and it takes all my energy just to leave the library at times," chimed in Ron. Kim elbowed him gently in the ribs.

"Don't go overboard," she muttered as quietly as she could.

"See?" said Rick, suddenly looking slightly uncomfortable.

Barkin stared at the teacher, his eye twitch the only indication of life. After several long moments he spoke. "Stoppable, you will demonstrate your love of English by writing me a ten page report on the summer reading, due on Friday."

Ron blanched. "Yes sir," Ron said, unenthusiastically.

"Since Possible is your student," Barkin pointed a powerful finger at the long haired teacher. "I'll leave it to you to deal out acceptable punishment for her. And if either of them thinks it might be cute to leave halfway through the day again, I'll have them after school in detention every day for the next month."

"Sounds appropriate," nodded Rick. "Good job, Mr. Barkin."

The larger man could only frown. "You're a strange one, Dr. Vedas." A bell rang in the distance. Barkin returned his gaze to Kim and Ron. "I expect you two to be in class by the second bell."

"We will, Mr. Barkin," said Kim.

Barkin eyed Ron for a moment, then turned and left.

Kim sighed. "Dr. Rick, not that I'm not grateful, but what's the sitch? Why did you go out on a limb for us?"

Rick chuckled. "Well, I've been on the receiving end of your generosity more than once, weather you've known it or not, I figured you'd deserved someone recognizing it." He ran a hand through his long hair. "Don't make a habit of this though. I'm still your teacher. Find out what work you missed in your later classes and get it done."

"No problem, Dr. Rick," Kim said, smiling. "I'll grab my books and head right to your class." She turned and started jogging to her locker.

Ron blinked. "Well, thanks Dr. R."

"You'll make sure you don't make me a liar as well, right?"

"Me? Oh sure, yeah, I'll do double-time to keep up. You betcha."

Rick sighed. "Just don't fall any more behind, please."

Ron nodded then raised an eyebrow. "What did KP do for you anyway?"

"My estate owns a good number of archeological artifacts that go on tour with museums around the world from time to time," the teacher said. "They've been nearly stolen more than once. You and Kim have been the reason they're still in my collection."

"Your... estate?" said Ron, fazed.

Dr. Rick just smiled and patted him on the back. "Get to class before we both get in trouble."

Ron just stared as the tall man walked casually away.

"Hi, Ronald," came a voice from behind him.

"I wonder," he said turning. "If that guy is exactly what he-WUAH!"

"That's some reaction," noted the short haired blonde girl standing in front of him. She was dressed casually in a pink top and jeans but Ron knew her typically outfit was a blue uniform.

"Vicki?" Ron gasped. "What are you doing here? Did GJ find Gemini?"

"No," the agent said, shaking her head. "Dr. Director is putting all our free resources onto tracking him down but nothing has come up yet."

"Then...?"

The blonde smiled. "Research."

"Research," repeated Ron.

"In order to get the data I need to redo the equation, I need to closely monitor yours and Kim's daily interactions, especially when you are in action. I figured posing as a student would the best way to do that."

"You're going to be following KP and me around? I don't remember that being mentioned yesterday! I thought GJ had cameras and tracking devices everywhere."

"Uh," Vicki blushed. "I don't have approval to use those resources since this is just a preliminary evaluation."

"Look, I've got to get to class," Ron started creeping away. "Maybe you can 'monitor' me on our next mission, okay?"

"Oh, it's no problem, I've got a schedule made that matches your." She held out the printed piece of paper.

Ron stared, a little pale as the second bell rang in the distance. He could only hang his head.

-----------

Shego stood before the unsavory bar in a darkened portion of the city triumphant and proud. It had been many years since she'd been to this place, and she wasn't sure it still existed until she contacted Senior Senior Senior to find for sure. As she approached the old oaken door crowned with iron, she felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her. She wasn't sentimental, far from it, but she was wise enough to appreciate where everything had all began.

"The Blackened Bounty," the nasal, grating voice of Mrs. Angela 'Atomic Andy' Lipsky said from behind Shego's proud stance. "Looks like a dump. Are you sure you got the right place from that Mexican billionaire?" Andy had been nothing if not insistent about coming along everywhere Shego went while searching for the older woman's son, Dr. Drakken. Shego could hardly claim to be a loner these days, least of all to a Lipsky, having spent the last 3 years working almost consistently with the 'doctor.' But even if the short, rounded woman _was_ an ex-super-villain, she had fallen a long way from those lofty heights and was outright annoying at best and a major hindrance at worst.

"He's not Mexican," Shego said, rolling her eyes. "He's Spanish. And yes, I'm sure this is right. I've been here before."

"I didn't know you were that kinda girl," Andy said, adjusting her large cataract-shaped glasses.

"I'm not a -- listen, we all stop here on our way to better things. It's very likely we'll be able to find 'The Survivor' here, so why don't you go play by the jet and let me handle this." Shego folded her arms and stared at Andy.

The mother was not discouraged. "Oh, no, I didn't come all this way just to see the outside of the place. Let's go in." She moved forward on her short legs and pushed open the door. Shego followed quickly behind.

The inside of the bar looked like it had been updated sometime in the late seventies and had remained that way for prosperity's sake. Nothing had changed since Shego had last been there. The single long bar ran lengthwise down the room surrounded by at least twenty-five barstools. The rest of the room was divided between the tables and booths for dining areas and the billiards tables and darts for entertainment. The place wasn't very busy, only about a dozen or so people in the room. A few at the bar, more still scattered across the tables. Dark wood paneling covered the walls making it feel more like a cave than a bar.

"Don't stray--" Shego started then stopped herself. What was the worst thing that could happen if the elder Lipsky got in trouble? Maybe she'd get hurt and then be hesitant to go everywhere Shego did. That might not be so bad. "You know what? Go crazy. I'll grab you when we're done here."

"All right," nodded the mother. "You be careful now," she said as she wandered off towards the mostly vacant bar.

Shego grumbled. She's warning me to be careful? she thought. What insanity! Is she even capable of comprehending how much more capable I am than her? She's the stranger in this land, not me. I've been here before. I've defeated hundreds of people bigger than me. I've walked into the Maw and come out alive. I've...

...got to get my mind off of this, she concluded.

She moved swiftly over to a circular table that already had four large, muscular men, dressed alike, sitting at it. She pulled out an empty chair and sat back, crossing her legs. The other men at the table looked at her, at first annoyed, and then with fear.

"M-miss Shego," the closest man said. They all had similar builds and their uniforms covered almost everything on them except their mouths. Its possible Shego could have told them apart by the sound of their voice and the shape of their mouths but she didn't bother. They weren't worth the effort.

"How's it going, boys?" Shego said, narrowing her eyes and smirking. The men looked at her and concluded that discussing how they actually were was probably not the expected response. One of the men, who Shego randomly assigned the number 'two', settled himself and leaned forward to speak.

"Has Dr. Drakken finally given up on his Synthodrones?" number two said.

"'Fraid not, fella," Shego replied, looking at the tips of her gloves and examining the sharp claws at the end. "They're getting better and still much cheaper than hiring you guys out."

"We'll work cheap," another man -- Shego gave him number "three" -- said quickly before being jabbed in the gut by number two. "I mean, we could work out a deal," he corrected himself.

"I really don't see it happening," Shego shook her head, taking the opportunity to scan the bar again. She didn't see her target, but that didn't mean he wasn't here. "You should start barking up other trees, like Dementor or maybe Gemini."

The four soldiers shifted silently after she spoke which told Shego everything they needed to know. "Speaking of which, I'm looking for 'The Survivor.'" She paused and looked into their goggled eyes. "I don't suppose any of you know where I can find him?"

The men were silent for several moments and Shego's eyes probed them intently, looking for that tell, the turn of the head, or a twist of the hand, something unconscious that would tell her where her target was. They were simple minded men, she knew they'd have to be to have once worked for her and Drakken, and if The Survivor wasn't here, they would make some motion to indicate who would know where. All she had to do was watch.

The silent one, number four, twitched ever so slightly to the left then back, as if catching himself. Shego wished she could see his eyes, the answer would be plain as day there, but the dark goggles prevented her from gazing into a person's easiest tell.

After another second of study, number two spoke up again. Shego turned to look towards him, but focused behind him, at the lone man sitting in a dark booth against the wall, in the general direction of number four's twitch. "Why are you looking for him?" asked number two.

"I heard he's famous," she said, standing, keeping her eyes fixed on the man at the booth. The scrape of her chair against the tile floor alerted the shadow of her presence and the dark figure turned, probably to look at Shego's vulture-like stare. "I'd hate to miss an opportunity to expand my autograph collection," Shego continued to say to the men but her full attention was elsewhere now.

The shadowy form moved slightly then froze again, like a deer in the headlights. Shego slowly moved her foot up to put it on the edge of the table. The four men sitting with her turned to follow her gaze. The combined attention of Shego with her former henchmen was apparently too much for the blackened shape, who lurched out of the booth and started hobbling towards the rear exit.

Shego smiled evilly as she launched herself up off the edge of the table to leap towards the form. Her kick off the rounded wood top caused the opposite side to pivot upwards, knocking into the chins of two of the men that were sitting with her. They fell to the ground hard in shock just as Shego's light body touched the tile just brief enough to start running after her target.

The shape, slinking along the back of the bar where the light failed to reach properly, pushed himself through the door with the red 'EXIT' sign above it. Shego almost laughed as she slowed her pace and walked purposely towards the heavy metal door. Her left hand flared to life, washing the back half of the bar with a greenish light as her right hand pushed open the door leading to the back alley.

She stepped out of the bar into the alley to find her target scrambling against a slick wall on the far side to no success. He was dressed in a purple-colored uniform and stood no taller than Shego herself. Unlike the men she had been sitting with before, this man was thin, almost lanky, and far from the athletic Adonis shape that most henchmen resembled.

He was the one, she knew.

"Silly man," Shego said, pacing forward. Her glow reflected off the walls giving everything around her a green hue. Like a virus, her emerald light spread along the buildings to either side drawing ever closer to her target. "Despite the sign, there's no way out of this alley. Anybody worth their salt knows that about the Blackened Bounty."

The man continued to scramble, hoping for a desperate foothold. Shego merely stalked forward, the green light reaching the cobblestones just before her target's feet. "It's no use," she continued. "If you cooperate, I'll make it quick."

The man, finally giving up on scaling the vertical wall, turned around, pressing his back against the brick as Shego came within a few feet of him, the heat from her glowing hand pressing against him drawing sweat down his brow. On the center of his chest, as part of the uniform he was wearing, was a giant Greek letter. Omega. "What do you want?" the man said, his voice high pitched and strained.

Shego smiled. "You are The Survivor, are you not?" she purred. Holding her glowing hand to the side she moved her body close to his. He trembled from the proximity.

"M-maybe," he squeaked.

Her right hand pressed against the symbol on the man's chest. "Omega," she said. "The last."

"Y-y-yes," Omega said. His eyes were transfixed on the glowing hand.

"You are the only one to survive Gemini's normally fatal firings." Shego moved her hand out of sight so she could look into his eyes. "Or so I've heard."

"Please, if he knows that I'm alive," Omega, no longer distracted by glowing death, looked around the alley suspiciously. "He's got cameras EVERYWHERE!"

Shego, satisfied with her game but starting to grow impatient, dropped the smile and got to the point. "Tell me how to find Gemini and you can go on cowering in the dark to avoid your former boss. I won't tell how I found out, but if you lead me wrong, not even the blackest shadows will hide you from me." She brought out her glowing hand again and turned up the head such that Omega believed he was getting a tan.

"Okay, okay," Omega said. "I'll help you, just, don't hurt me."

"Feh," Shego said with a frown, extinguishing her green flames and grabbing Omega by his collar. "Such cowardice." She began dragging him back to the bar.

"It's cowardice that has kept me alive," Omega mumbled back.

Shego pulled open the 'emergency exit' and yanked Omega back inside. The former Drakken henchmen she had been sitting with were now by the bar and laughing loudly. In fact, everyone who had been scattered around the room were now by the bar and giggling at something going on in the center. Even the elderly and normally stoic bartender (from what Shego could remember of him) was smiling widely.

Shego frowned. What was going on?

"Come on," Shego said, letting go of the former Gemini henchman. "Run again and I'll not hesitate to fry you."

"How will you find Gemini then?" Omega said with a sly grin.

Shego scowled and grabbed Omega's arm and let her hand flare up for a moment. The man yelped like a child. "I didn't say I'd kill you," Shego snapped before letting go and marching towards the bar. The henchman looked depressed again and followed silently.

Shego crooned her head to see what the commotion had been about. Not very much typically got guys of this sort laughing and certainly giggling. Then she heard the _voice_. That awful, voice that had meant nothing but misery for her.

"... and that colorful hero, Major Starshine, just stared in shock as I took the girl hostage and fled on my Atomic Airplane!"

The laugher exploded and Shego felt her blood boil. She grabbed the nearest man in front of her and hurled him out of the way so she could see with her own eyes. In the center of the laughing circle of henchmen was Andy. She was laughing as well, and had a hand on the bartenders' arm as she spoke. "I remember telling Fatal Cadence here," she motioned towards the bartender. "You know what he said? Tell them what you said."

The bartender, trying to keep himself from laugh, blurted out, "I said, 'I never thought nuclear decay could happen so fast!'" He nearly buckled over in laugher after speaking and the rest of the henchmen followed suit.

Shego's blood curdled. She knew why she hated Mrs. Lipsky so much now. She was the antithesis of everything that Shego was. The green villainess would never be caught dead joking about the old days in a bar, never have gotten chummy with other villains with the same goals as her. And while she would take every opportunity to embarrass her enemies, she hated the corny one-liner during the fast getaway.

Evil wasn't a job, at least not to Shego. It was a state of being, a concept infused into everything someone did. Andy seemed to think evil was a jacket she wore for a time but underneath she was a 'people person.' You couldn't be a villain while prancing around in a silly costume and making jokes related to your name. And you certainly couldn't 'retire' like Mama Lipsky seemed to do. There was only one retirement from Evil, and the peace it brought was _eternal_.

Giggling from behind her caused Shego to turn to see the, previously terrified, Omega laughing as well. Apparently Andy Lipsky's continuing tales had made even the paranoid henchmen forget his situation for a moment. She would have to remind him.

She glared at him with eyes that seemed to burn brighter than her hands ever did and spoke deliberately. "We - are - leaving."

Gemini swallowed and nodded. Shego turned her attention to the crowd and pushed forward.

"Come on, storyteller, we're leaving." Shego pointed toward the door with emphasis.

"We're done already?" Andy asked. Shego nodded. "Ah, well, alright then." She turned to the bartender. "It's so nice to see you again, Corey."

"Indeed it was," nodded the barkeep.

Mrs. Lipsky hopped down from the tall barstool and followed Shego and Gemini out, the former scowling the entire time.

-----------

Saying Kim didn't exactly like where things were headed, would be like saying the sun was a campfire.

"You're like, what? Twenty?" Kim said staring at the blond who was suspiciously close to her boyfriend.

"Nineteen, actually," admitted Vicki Grimes, GJ agent and sudden stalker of Ron Stoppable. "But I think I look young enough to pull off a senior at a high school." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter if someone figures it out. My only purpose is to study how you and Ronald interact."

"It's Ron," said Kim, irritated. "He likes to be called Ron." She looked at the boy in question. "Right?"

"You know, I'm thinking lunch might actually sound good today," Ron said, rubbing the back of his neck. He made a slight smile but got only stares back from Kim. He tried to recover. "She's right, Vicki, its Ron. Only my parents call me Ronald. Well, and KP's parents. Drakken calls me buffoon, so I kinda prefer him call me Ronald to that. At least Shego remembers my name pretty frequently. Oh, the Seniors do too, but probably because I got them started in the villainy business and I think I'll stop babbling now and eat my poison." Ron turned awkwardly and headed down the hall towards the cafeteria.

Vicki smiled at the departing Ron and glanced over at Kim, still standing by the lockers where they had met for lunch. If Kim were paranoid, she would have sworn the GJ agent said "yes" under her breath. As it was, the cheerleader frowned and grabbed the apples out of her locker before following the two blondes.

She got about three steps before someone was yanking on her arm.

"Kim, where were you yesterday?"

Oh, that's Bonnie's voice, Kim thought, trying not to frown more. She turned again to face the brunette cheerleader and found her standing in front of the rest of the squad, as usual. She had an angry look on her face, also as usual.

"Sorry, Bonnie," Kim apologized. "Something came up."

"Hello? The pep rally is on Friday, we don't have time to waste on you disappearing at a moment's notice."

"Come on, we already know the routine by heart, and we've been practicing every week through the end of summer. Missing one day is so not the drama."

"That's not the point, Ms. Perfect," Bonnie said then motioned to the rest of the squad behind her. "We're concerned about your commitment."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Must we do this _every_ year, _Bon-Bon_?" Bonnie shook with rage at the use of her secret nickname. "You know I'm more than capable of dividing my time between the squad and my other activities."

"Do I?" Bonnie rested her head against her hand as if lost in thought. "Your miraculous accomplishments in the past few years rarely come from your own hard work and dedication. Many times you get help from that doofus mascot, and the times that you don't rely on him there is typically some strange invention of some sort involved in your salvation." She stepped aside so that the squad behind her could be in view. "But we do all the same things by showing up every day and putting long hours into the work, without a crazy device that speeds up our time or increases our strength."

Kim blinked.

"So do I trust someone who frequently relies on her advantage instead of the hard work 'normal' people put in?" Bonnie's hands went back to her hips. "Do I need to answer that?"

Did Bonnie just make a decent point? Kim asked herself. This had already been a crazy day, now it was getting worse.

"Bonnie," Kim began but the brunette cheerleader cut her off.

"Don't bother, Kim," Bonnie said. "Just prove your commitment by coming to practice today. If you can't make room in your busy schedule for one day's worth of practice then, well, we'll know where your priorities lie."

The lynch-mob moved off and Kim wondered if she'd just been manipulated or barely dodged the bullet. She really loved being a cheerleader, but did it come first in her life? No. Not really. She couldn't very well ignore someone's cries for help just to make sure she'd get to practice on time. But if nobody was dying... or the world wasn't being threatened... and her family was safe from danger... or--

How much free time did her website actually leave her, anyway?

Her thoughts drifted to Dr. Director's offer yesterday. Did she really have a choice? How much time could she really devote to a real job? Would her employer understand if she was constantly late or missing entirely from work because Dr. Drakken had a new death ray? What if Senior Senior Senior was angry at her? He was rich enough to acquire whatever company she worked for and shut them down. What would she do then? Who would want to hire someone who could risk them losing their job? Was there anything she could count on being consistent in her life?

Kim walked in a daze into the cafeteria and got in line to receive her glop. Afterwards, she scanned the room and spotted Ron and -- ugh -- Vicki eating at one table. She sat down next to Ron, who was apparently explaining how GJ headquarters featured a definite lack of spinning tops of doom. He paused, mid sentence when he saw Kim's look.

"KP?" he asked. "Are you all right? You look... devastated." He put hand on her shoulder. "Anything you want take off these and put on mine?" Ron grinned.

"Well, I--" she stopped when looked into Ron's eyes.

Yes. There were things she could count on being consistent. Sure, Drakken would always try to threaten the world and Shego would always challenge her ability. But Wade would always let her know when someone needed help.

And Ron would always be there to run into danger with her. Her friends didn't judge her or question her commitment. And if one day she had to work for GJ because they were the only one's who would take her, she wouldn't go unless Ron could too. He would go, as well, because he couldn't abandon her. Just like she couldn't abandon him.

Kim smiled widely and put an arm around Ron. "No, you've already taken on enough," she said.

Her boyfriend.

Maybe it wasn't such a strange thought after all.

"Oh man, that's just too cute," said an emotional voice from behind them. Kim turned to see Monique fighting back tears. Kim laughed as her stylish friend came around and sat down at the table. "Better not let everyone see that, or we'll have another 'Universe Changing Event.'" Kim blushed. Monique looked at Vicki. "Who's our new friend?"

"This is Vicki Grimes, she's..." Kim trailed off. She hadn't heard what the cover story was and couldn't think of one quick enough. Oh well, it's not like Monique didn't know GJ existed. "Actually, she's a GJ agent studying Ron and I again. Vicki, this is Monique."

"Oh, no, not the Factor," Monique looked terrified.

"Actually, my research is more paired this time," Vicki supplied. "Not as much of a 'Ron Factor' but 'Ron and Kim Paring Equation.'"

"It's no big, Monique," said Kim. "She won't be around long, right?" She craned her head to make sure the last word was firmly directed towards the GJ agent.

"Just as long as I need to prove my theory," said the blonde agent. "Once I get surveillance support, the research will be done remotely and I'll be out of your hair."

"Hey," Ron said suddenly, rejoining the conversation. "What's a 'Universe Changing Event?'" He paused. "Aside from the obvious," he added.

Kim tried to keep from appearing flushed again. Monique just laughed. "It's from our History class."

"Ah, Dr. Rick," said Ron, not sounding as happy as Monique.

"It's about the experiment I told you about yesterday," Kim continued, looking elsewhere. "The 'Explorative History' one where he asked for a bunch of stories about the Junior Prom and then correlated what likely did and didn't happen based on where the stories matched."

"You and Kim hooking up was in everyone's story," Monique quickly said, unable to wait. "According to Rick, when something shows up exactly the same in every retelling, it's an absolute. They refer to it as a 'Universe Changing Event' because it was significant enough that everyone's 'universe,' or their lives, were altered at least slightly by it."

Now Ron blushed. "Oh," he said, and suddenly felt nervous about Kim's closeness.

"So how are your classes going, Monique?" asked Kim, saving Ron from having to say more on the topic.

"They're fine, girl, just the same-old-same-old first week stuff," she waved her hand dismissively. "Introductions despite the fact we've been schooling together for three years now, preliminary homework to make sure we hadn't forgotten last year yet. Only History has been different, but you already know about that."

Kim nodded.

"Hey, speaking of History again," said Ron. "Did you know that guy Rick is loaded?"

"What, like a baked potato?" asked Monique, eyebrow arched.

"He said he had an 'estate' and that many of his collections have gone on tour at museums. Isn't that, like, Senior Senior Senior-level richness?"

"Not necessarily," said Kim. "Although he did say he's pretty well off. Inheritance, I think he said."

"Yeah," nodded Monique. "He said his name is actually 'Dr. Richard Vedas the fourth' or something. Very big, Vanderbilt-style legacy stuff."

"Then what's he doing in Middleton?" asked Ron.

"Teaching, apparently," said Vicki suddenly. "I guess he likes doing it, even if the money isn't all that." She paused as everyone looked at her. "At least, that would be my opinion."

"Riiight," said Ron.

"I'm just trying to contribute." It was Vicki's turn to blush.

"I'm not getting a bad vibe from him," said Kim. "I don't think we need to worry. He doesn't feel like the Senior Senior Senior type of person."

"All right," Ron said, unconvinced.

Kim took a bite of her food, blanched, then broke out the apples again. She absent mindedly passed one to Ron and they both munched in unison. Monique smiled warmly while looking at them.

Vicki wasn't as pleased.

-----------

Tapping on glass woke Kim up from her sleep. It was late, Kim knew, she'd gone to bed just a few hours ago and now it was a ripe 2am. In the darkness, she fumbled around to find the edge of the bed and slip out, instinctively heading toward the stairs.

Tap-tap-tap.

Kim paused. Glass, her thoughts recalled, tapping on glass which probably didn't mean the front door. She looked around as the sound came again. Tap-tap-tap. It was close. Her own window?

Kim headed towards the curtains and carefully pulled them aside. Against the starlight, she could make out a thin form with exceptionally long hair cascading about the figure like a cape in the wind. Moonlight lit soft curves and pale skin.

Kim opened the window wide and the green form slipped silently in.

"What on Earth are you doing, Shego?" Kim asked, trying to keep her voice down so as not to wake her parents.

"Do you know what it's like to be incessantly followed around by someone you think has no business getting involved in your work?" Shego asked, seething from pent up rage.

Kim was about to repeat her question when she thought of the GJ agent that had started following Ron and her at school. She remembered being relieved that Vicki had not tried to get involved in their cheer practices. Ron's antics as the mascot were distracting enough, let alone Bonnie's careful gaze trying to find faults in the routine. "I have an idea," she said.

"The only way to ditch that shrew was to sneak out at night," Shego said, glancing around. "So, come on, lets get going."

"Going?" Kim said as Shego walked around her room. "Going where?"

"I found out where this Gemini character is," the green woman said, examining pictures on the dresser. She noticed a few of the do-gooder and her doofus sidekick being all lovey-dovey and made a face. "I'd rather have competent cannon fodder around while I grab Dr. D and Mrs. Lipsky doesn't quite cut it."

"Cannon fodder," repeated Kim. "You sure know how to convince me, Shego."

"Oh please," Shego turned and walked right up to Kim. "I know you, Pumpkin. I just have to hint that there might be some good to be done in the world and you're out with your hairdryer in one hand and your sidekick with his bald rat in the other faster than I can say 'pathetic.'"

"I can't very well ignore someone asking for help," Kim said in her defense. "It would be unethical. And I do have standards."

"Standards?" Shego laughed. "Like what? I know you save kittens in trees just as easily as stopping floods in Mississippi and would-be world conquers in Africa. You may be blind, but I can see it all around you. You know who you're exactly like?"

"Who?" Kim said, folding her arms. "You, right?"

"You wish," Shego said, narrowing her eyes. "Drakken."

"What?" Kim almost yelled then covered her mouth. "How?" she whispered afterwards.

"You're both obsessed with this ridiculous goal you'll never stop thinking about. You've become so fixated on it you've warped your perspective on the rest of your life to accommodate it." Shego smiled, slyly. "Just because he wants to take over the world and you want to save it doesn't mean you are any different in my book."

Kim frowned, angrily. "If you want my help," she said slowly. "Say no more."

Shego just grinned. "Whatever you say, Ms. P." She headed for the window and gracefully leapt out, blithely unconcerned about the two story drop.

Kim vibrated. "How dare she compare me to that psychopath?" She pulled out her mission uniform and started shedding her night clothes to pull on the black turtleneck and cargo pants. "Me? Like Drakken? Please." Slinging her backpack onto her shoulder she grabbed her Kimmunicator on her nightstand and headed for the window. "When this is over, I'm going to drag her butt back to prison where she belongs. She clearly doesn't think of us a team."

Kim looked down out the window to see Shego standing in the street next to her jet. Figures. Not like anyone would tow it for double parking.

She started climbing out the window then stopped. "This is MY house," she said suddenly, and crawled back in. Minutes later she emerged from the front door with her Kimmunicator in hand.

"Come on, Princess," said Shego, bored. "I don't have all night."

"We have to wait for Ron anyway," Kim said, putting the Kimmunicator away. She'd used it to call him while leaving the house. "He'll be just a minute."

"Oh, no. Not the buffoon." The green woman sighed. "I'm sure he'll be helpful when sneaking into a heavily armed evil organization's fortress."

"I'm not doing this without him," Kim said, firmly. Shego just rolled her eyes.

"Fine, whatever. But you're not sitting on my lap again."

"Yes, I'd prefer to avoid that if at all possible," Kim agreed.

-----------

"Kimmie?" Shego said in... well, she'd passed fury a long time ago and was now building up to a new form of anger that had previously been unclassified. She considered calling it Shanger, then reconsidered. That sounded about as lame as Drakken's attempts to claim 'DrakCanada.'

"Yes?" Kim said, depressed, and already anticipating what was to come. They were flying at well over 40,000 feet in the air and she was hoping they could have avoided this conversation until after landing.

"I know -- I mean I am absolutely positive -- that I specifically said, you could NOT sit on my lap again," the green pilot ebbed between violent fits of rage occurring in her head.

"You did," said Kim. "I agreed."

"THEN HOW THE HELL DID WE END UP LIKE THIS!" Shego screamed. The jet trembled in sympathy to it's owner's yell.

Kim sighed and craned her neck in the small cockpit to look behind her. Ron was sitting there, looking about a happy as Kim was, with Vicki Grimes on his lap. Of all the people in the space-constrained jet, the GJ agent seemed to be the only one not unhappy and Kim was starting to figure out exactly why.

"Ron," Kim said. "Can you explain again for Shego?"

"I'd rather not," replied her sidekick, looking ill. "It could result in an 'emergency landing.'"

"I'm going to install a passenger ejector button after this is all over," Shego said, grumbling as she tried to see her navigation cluster. They were getting close to the coordinates she'd coerced out of Omega, the former WWEE henchman.

"You are a," Kim struggled for the right words, "combat-ready GJ agent, right?"

Vicki nodded. "Yes, I've been on more than one mission that dissolved into combat."

"It wasn't your fault those missions went south," Shego asked, hopefully. "Was it?"

"Oh no," the GJ agent replied. "I'm quite certain it was a group effort."

"Ugh," Shego grunted. "Move your ass, Pumpkin, I can't see my altitude."

Kim shifted slightly, blushing at this whole situation. She had not expected Vicki to have been monitoring their houses so closely that she would show up at Shego's jet. Although now Kim was starting to wonder if she was only watching Ron's house closely, otherwise Shego's arrival probably would have been what alerted her, and not the early-morning activity inside the Stoppable house.

The jet started a somewhat steep decline. "All right," Shego said finally. "We're here. Just hang on. I have to come in low under their Radar."

Shego righted the jet just as it was just a few feet above the slowly moving waves in the vast ocean.

Kim stared out at the serene twilight view. Once again Gemini's headquarters were located in the middle of the Atlantic. This time though, according to Shego's source, the base was much larger and not submersible, relying on a revolutionary camouflage system to avoid GJ detection. Looking forward, though, Kim could see nothing, not even the barest sign of a large, multi-leveled, evil headquarters.

"Maybe your guy was wrong?" suggested Kim, after several more minutes of low-altitude flying.

"Not if he wants to keep his arms," said Shego. "We're almost there, don't worry, Princess."

Minutes passed and Kim still saw nothing on the horizon but the start of a slowly rising sun. Then, suddenly, they hit something. The jet vibrated against the strain but it was over seconds later. Kim was about to ask if they'd hit a bird or something when she saw the towering base in front of them.

"What the--"

"Active camouflage," said Shego. "On a super-large scale. Rolls out like cellophane. Look." She motioned behind her and started to slow down. Kim tried to see out of the corner of her eye and caught a glimpse of the edges of the camouflage, torn like a paper bag.

"Incredible," Vicki said, crawling around Ron to get a better view out the back. Kim simmered internally. Oh yes, she'd have a talk with Agent Grimes when this was over.

Shego landed the jet on a lower level pylon on the base, which looked like a series of bubbles connected by a steel lattice. The small plane carefully touched down in the open hangar with a soft thud and powered off. The occupants quickly jumped down and looked around.

"Empty," Shego said, eyes carefully looking over every nook and cranny. "Did we really avoid detection?"

"Or is it a trap?" suggested Kim. The two skillful warriors just looked at each other and nodded. They separated silently, each taking a different direction in the hangar. Kim waved Ron and Vicki on as they headed for a doorway while Shego leapt high up and crawled her way into a large ventilation shaft.

"What's going on?" whispered Ron as they quietly crept into a long hallway heading away from where they parked. Kim looked everywhere as they moved, and was pleasantly surprised to see Vicki watching their backs with the same intensity.

"It's too quiet," said Kim. "Even if they didn't see us flying in, landing that jet should have set off alarms. This feels like a trap." She scanned the ceiling for security cameras.

"What about Shego?" asked the sidekick. "Looking out for herself?"

"In a way," nodded Kim but with none of the scorn Ron expected for such a reply. "Since there is three of us, there's a better chance we'll be spotted and assumed to be everyone in the jet. After the trap is sprung, Shego will be able to move around more freely."

"Can we trust her?" asked Vicki, looking up at Kim for a moment. "She's evil, through and through."

"You remember Aviarius?" asked Kim to Ron who nodded. "We should be able to trust her until she has what she wants, which in this case is Drakken."

"All right," said Vicki, wearily.

Kim frowned, however, as they padded for minutes through the corridors without encountering people. They did find some security cameras, and carefully dodged around them, but all the rooms they came across were empty.

"You know, KP," said Ron. "I think we've been had. There's nobody here."

Kim nodded as she pulled out her Kimmunicator. "Wade, I need you to scan this building and find me the fastest route to the command center."

Wade's sleepy image appears on the screen. "Kim? What's going on?" He yawned.

"We've found what we thought was Gemini's base, but it looks like it's abandoned. Can you find me a quick route to the command center?"

The short kid blinked away the sleep and started typing. "I'm on it." The three intruders huddled around the screen, watching closely. The screen suddenly changed to show a general schematic of the facility. "Okay, it looks like there's an elevator that will take you up to the top floor where the most systems seem to be routed."

"Okay," Kim said moving forward according to the map. "Can you get any lifesigns?"

"Hmm..." Wade frowned. "I'm not picking up very much. The command center seems to be shielded, so I can scan inside. But aside from there, I only see one other person, also heading in that direction."

"That would be Shego," nodded Kim. "So if it's a trap, it'll be up there on that floor."

"Definitely."

"Well, nowhere to go but up, then."

Reaching the elevator, the group filed in and pressed their backs against the walls, trying to remain out of sight from anyone that might look, or more importantly, shoot at them from outside. Kim hit the button for the top floor and readied herself to leap out at the first sign of trouble.

The elevator slowly climbed upwards, blaring a strange voiceless version of an 'Oh Boyz' song that wasn't all that much better with vocals. Ron eventually sighed. "This is the tallest evil headquarters in existence," he moaned.

With a 'ping' the elevator reached it's destination and the doors opened. The three waited inside for the commotion or at least a sign that someone noticed them. After a few seconds Kim peaked her head out and stared right into an irritated form that looked ready to rend steel as easily as her body.

"It's about time," Shego said, placing her hands on her hips. "I've been waiting for five minutes here."

"Shego?" asked Kim, walking carefully out of the elevator, followed closely by Ron and Vicki. "Nobody, huh?"

"Zilch," Shego shook her head. "But they were here." She held up a piece of paper. "They left a note for you."

"Me?" asked Kim and took the paper. She read, "Sorry we missed each other, but I knew you'd come sooner or later so we decided not to stick around. I bet you don't think you're all that now, do you? Neener-neener-neener." Kim looked up. "Dr. Drakken?"

"You betcha," said Shego. "Nobody else has that four-year-old-child grasp of lingo but him."

"I guess that means he's working WITH Gemini," said Ron looking around.

"And building something," Vicki said looking at a workstation filled with spare parts and test tubes filled with chemicals.

"So, turns out he wasn't kidnapped, then," conclude Kim. "Just like you said back at his lair. Do you have any idea what they were building?" Kim looked at the angry looking Shego. "Or do we have to fight now that your boss is still active?"

"Hmm?" said Shego, noticing Kim speaking. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening." She looked around. "No, this means he is up to something but the fool has decided not to include _me_. He's violating our contract and I have the right to deliver some major hurt on him." She looked at Kim. "But to do that, we have to find him first."

"Ookay," Kim said, trying to find some sense of assurance in Shego's statements but failing. "So what were they making?"

"Explosives," said Shego walking over to the workstation that Vicki was examining. "I've seen this stuff before. It's Drakken's micro-explosives that he developed a few years back. Looks like they were making a lot of them."

Kim frowned. Explosives were not good, especially small ones. "What for?" she asked.

-----------

Dr. Elizabeth 'Betty' Director sipped on her coffee and examined the morning report from her desk at GJ Headquarters. The rotating shifts they used at GJ meant she was on the 4am to 6pm. Even though she was in charge, she had to cycle just like all the other agents, just in case a major event occurred in another time zone. When she was an agent, getting used to the cycles took a few months, but now, years later, it was habit.

She wondered one day if she'd be able to live a normal life again when she retired. Of course, with her security clearance, she'd probably be under assault for the remainder of her days, so such thoughts were foolish. Still, it would have been nice to have a normal day, perhaps living in Arizona, getting up in the morning, doing some craft or hobby all day, then going to sleep in the evening.

Betty tapped on her screen and paged through her morning report. She noticed a small update from her Middleton agent and read it quickly. Keeping track of Kim Possible was important to GJ, as she tended to get involved in many global events before the GJ even heard of them. Sending that agent to watch her had relieved several members of the tech department who had been trying unsuccessfully to hack into the Kimmunicator network. It was a much easier and cheaper alternative, but the information was slightly dated, and the agent couldn't be with Kim at all hours of the day.

Today's report, however, was pretty mundane. Simple day at school. Some commotion with teachers, a bit of infighting between Kim and her cheerleading classmates, then she went home after practice. Nothing else to report. Dr. Director nodded to herself and continued paging.

A slight noise distracted her and she looked up for the source. It sounded like a faint buzzing. She looked around her expansive office and eventually put her ear to the ventilation shaft and listened closely. The tinny whine was definitely echoing from there.

Dr. Director left her office, which led directly into the Command Center, where all of GJ's information funneled as well as facility surveillance. She walked over to Agent Commander Will Du standing behind the security officer. He saw her approaching and saluted.

"Dr. Director," he said, stiffly, before putting his hand down and turning back to looking over the shoulder of the security office at his console.

"There's something in the vents," said Betty, motioning above with her coffee.

"We know," said Commander Du. "We just picked up the sound with our microphones in the junctions."

"Can you isolate it?"

"Not yet." The senior agent shook his head and pointed at the screen. A schematic of the vents showed a mass of red moving very quickly through the ducts. "It's moving very fast, we're having trouble closing the junctions in time to catch it."

"What is it?" asked Dr. Director. "Wait, where is it heading?"

The agent tapped the shoulder of the officer who displayed the schematic on the huge screen at the front of the Command Center. Will walked past Betty up to the screen and pointed at the red mass and its projected destination.

"It will reach here in two minutes," he concluded. He pointed at the Command Center on the map, highlighted in blue, and the mass of red moving through ducts heading right towards it.

"Close the vents, then!" said Dr. Director.

The Agent nodded. "It's already done, sir. We've closed off the vents at each of the secured areas in HQ. Whatever it is, it'll reach here and have to turn back. We just haven't been able to trap it in an intermediary junction where we can send agents to."

"So what is it, then?" Dr. Director sipped her coffee, unsettled. It was not frequent that they had security events within GJ headquarters.

"We're not sure. Cameras haven't caught it, and it sounds like the buzz from an old TV or something. I think it's multiple, smaller, objects though, because our sensors indicate it more like a swarm."

"Sir," the officer called from the security station. "They've reached the Command Center."

The buzzing got louder and Dr. Director could hear little taps of metal as whatever the things in the shafts were struck the closed steel vent doors that normally allowed air into the Command Center. The taps got louder and incessant before dying away and stopping altogether.

"Did they turn back?" questioned Dr. Director.

Commander Du turned around to look at the big screen. "No, they've just gotten into a holding pattern a fair distance away from the vent door. Most peculiar."

Dr. Director turned to look at the map, then suddenly dropped her coffee as a loud explosion threw debris everywhere and covered half of the Command Center in a fine cloud. The buzzing was immediately louder as a swarm of green bugs funneled out of the hole in the wall where the vent door used to be.

"Lock down!" screamed Dr. Director as she pulled out her sidearm and started peering into the cloud of green bugs. They were moving in a swarm sweeping around the Command Center until they'd all exited the vents. A few of the bugs flew low and swept past the various consoles in the room.

Agent Du looked at one as it flew past. "They're Fly-On-The-Wall cameras!" he said suddenly. "Hundreds of them!"

Dr. Director narrowed her eyes. "Gemini."

A group of a dozen or so flies broke apart from the swarm and settled over by one of the surveillance stations.

"They're stealing our surveillance!" said Dr. Director. "Shut it all down so that--"

She couldn't finish her sentence as the flies around the station exploded. Shards of metal went flying and threw dust up covering more of the center in a thick cloud. Glass and plastic scattered across the room and landed by the security officer who looked up in time to see another group of a dozen flies heading towards him. He didn't need to be told to run.

The security console, and much of the surrounding area, exploded as the flies touched down, the shockwave flinging the office partway across the room. Several corollary information stations and junctions suddenly went black as their data feed was severed. The big screen at the front of the room flickered and went dark as well. Dr. Director and Commander Du looked around in shock as several soldiers started filing into the Command Center in response to the Lock Down request issued earlier.

Dr. Director grabbed Will by the collar. "Get everyone out of here!" she yelled. "Technicians, officers, security -- everyone out!"

"Yes, sir!" yelled the agent as he launched himself through the chaos, running between exploding consoles and swarms of flies towards the security detail. He stopped by the bleeding form of the security officer and heaved him over his shoulder.

"Find everyone you can and evacuate," the agent said as he finally reached the doors where the security detail arrived. "There were 2 technicians, 6 officers and Dr. Director in there!"

"What about the enemy?" asked a dazed security soldier.

"When everybody's out, close this place down and put up barricades in the vents. Bomb proof doors are the only thing that'll hold these guys in!" Will Du looked up at each the soldiers, wiping the blood of his face that spilled from the unconscious security officer. "They're too small to shoot. If you see a swarm coming towards you, don't be heroes. Get everyone around you to safety and get behind a door!"

The security soldiers nodded but looked hesitant. "That's an order!" yelled Will for emphasis. The soldiers became firm again and ran into the thick of the smoke.

The agent turned to leave when he heard the buzzing get closer. He looked over his shoulder again to see a swarm of flies heading towards him.

Swallowing, his feet launched him forward and he ran as fast as he could down the hall only stumbling once under the weight of the officer on his shoulder. The buzzing was growing nearer with every second.

The corridor branched and he dodged to the right, slamming against the wall as he turned, dislocating the arm that wasn't holding the officer. Gritting his teeth to bite back the pain, Commander Du's legs burned as he pushed himself further and further.

Some of the flies had continued down the other branch at the corridor, but there were still more than enough on his tail to possibly kill him. He looked up and tried to think of a plan but the pain flooded his thoughts and dark spots swam in his vision.

"Why are they chasing me?" he yelled, frustrated, as he ran. "They didn't chase anyone else!"

The door at the end of the corridor was approaching fast. He saw the sign above it and paled. "Communications Relay" it said in glowing red letters. They weren't after him, they were out to shut down the inter-agent network communications.

Will tried to imagine the chaos in the field of agents losing contact with each other and HQ but pushed it from his mind. He just told his soldiers not to be heroes, he couldn't do something stupid just to save the network when he had a wounded man in his hands. Glancing back at the swarm, Will knew that there was nothing he could do anyway.

Preparing himself as he reached the large metal door leading to the relay, he breathed deeply, hoping he didn't get himself killed by doing this.

When he was inches from the door he suddenly pivoted around, twisting his ankle in the process, and kicked off the door to dive back down the hallway under the swarm of bomb flies. The mechanical bugs soared overhead, ignorant of the two GJ agents that happened to be there, and headed for the door. Will dropped the security officer's body on the floor and quickly covered it with his own.

I wonder what your name is, thought Commander Du to the body before the door to the Communications Relay exploded, sending shards of metal into his back and a shockwave that blew the two down the hall and Will into unconsciousness.


	4. Part IV Escalation

Shego stood in shock at the carnage. She wanted to be glib, to crack a joke or at least make a sarcastic remark at the corporation of 'heroes,' something to remind Kim Possible and her lackeys who they were with... but she couldn't. For once, she was staring the in the face of true evil and she was disgusted.

"Dr. D would never have done this on his own," she said as they moved through the wreckage of the Global Justice headquarters. "It's not-- he wants to take over the world, not destroy it."

Kim, walking next to her, nodded slightly, her eyes so used to searching for danger, wouldn't stop taking in the pain on the faces of the wounded GJ agents and the blood on the walls that spoke of dozens more. Her hands shook slightly as they walked, following the GJ agent they met at the tarmac when Shego's jet landed.

They had come as soon as they heard. Wade contacted them first, just as they were leaving the abandoned WWEE headquarters. He'd had a few silent programs in the GJ mainframe that suddenly vanished without a trace, he knew immediately something was up. A little while longer, when the GJ network came back, Vicki was contacted by an Agent Christie Harper who notified them of the damage and emergency protocols in place. All agents were being recalled and a new command ladder had to be established while the upper echelons of the GJ were out of touch.

"Were you here?" Kim asked the agent in front of them as they walked. She tried to ignore the looks of wounded agents as they moved past but her instincts refused to let her. With all the acuity she had when normally in combat, her brain soaked up every image until it made her sick to her stomach. Kim glanced at Ron, who looked like a zombie, and Shego, who seemed to be suffering the same unsettling feeling as her.

"No, ma'am," said the Agent. "I was stationed nearby and was one of the first to respond after the network failed." Kim tried to come up with something else to ask, someway of generating small talk with the agent but failed. She silently marched instead.

The number of wounded people they were encountering increased suddenly as they reached a door marked 'Infirmary.' It was a strangely clean door, having neither the unsettling blood nor the char marks from explosions on it. Kim assumed, whatever the intent of Gemini, sick bay wasn't a primary target.

Thank god for little miracles, Kim thought as they entered the GJ hospital.

The smell of the emergency room pummeled Kim, who had long associated the aroma with her mother, only to see surgeons yelling at each other and quickly moving between patients performing instant diagnosis as well as surgery. They stopped only to clean their hands between bodies. The agent they were following silently motioned towards the back of the room. Kim and her companions continued to march on.

At the back of the hospital was another door, unmarked, but guarded by two GJ soldiers and a palm-print scanner. As Kim approached the guards stepped aside and pulled open the door, the palm-print scanner apparently having been bypassed. The four non-agents stepped forward and were sealed within.

The room beyond the guards was dimmed and only a small group of nurses were monitoring the two rows of patients. Some were visible, with cuts and bruises across their bodies but otherwise just a little worse for wear. Others had their curtains drawn, with nurses moving in and out of the sheltered areas frequently.

A nurse, dressed in a coat and gown but still in GJ colors, quickly moved up to the group. "Ms. Possible?" she said and received a nod in response. "This way, please."

The march continued until they'd reached the second to the last set of beds in the room and were led past the curtains there. Inside lay the still body of a slightly older woman, her arm wrapped in white and held against her chest, and her head bandaged from her forehead down to her nose.

"Oh no," Kim said softly as she realized she was looking at Dr. Director.

"Kim?" the bandaged director of Global Justice asked. Her voice was coarse and dry, as if she hadn't spoken in years and was just learning how. "Is that you?"

"Yes," Kim replied after a moment. "I'm here with Ron, Agent Grimes, and Shego."

"Heh," Dr. Director chuckled slightly. "Looks like you got your view of the inside of GJ HQ after all, Shego." She coughed a few times. "What do you think?"

"Well, it could use a little..." Shego trailed off. She couldn't do it. She wanted to vomit. "It shouldn't have been like this."

"I think we can all agree on that," Betty said, nodding as best as she could in the tight gauze wrapping. "Those explosives, Shego, could he have more?"

The green thief nodded, then realized the Director couldn't see through the wrappings over her eyes. "Yes. The materials at that hideout, there could be thousands more or none. I wouldn't know."

"Do you know how they are made?"

Shego blanched. If you ask me to build them, she thought. I'll leave right now, I don't care how bad you look. "I only know what goes into them, not how it all mixes."

"Please tell one of the Agents on your way out," the director said. "So they can determine their yield and begin a viable defense."

"What did you do this time?" asked Ron.

"EMP bomb," she replied. "Took out all of our technology not in the protected labs, but also neutralized all the flies." She grimaced slightly. "Unfortunately, the explosives were not affected."

Kim shook her head. "Kim," continued Dr. Director. "Get out of this."

"What?" Kim looked confused.

"Leave here and don't look back."

Kim looked back at Ron who only shrugged. "I don't understand," she said.

Dr. Director sighed. "I was being selfish before. Getting you involved in GJ affairs, offering you a position in our ranks. I wanted to get you on board without letting you know all the risks. _These_ are the risks, Kim, the dangers of being a world-class espionage agency. You're a child -- seventeen years old -- you shouldn't have to look at this and you definitely shouldn't be asked to risk this."

Kim frowned but said nothing. The GJ agent just continued. "The world is an awful place sometimes. We fight and steal and try to kill one another at the drop of a hat. Sometimes GJ gets there in time and stops the bloodshed, sometimes we get there too late. Sometimes, Kim, we have to _cause_ the bloodshed." She swallowed hard. "Looking back on it now, that's not something I'm prepared to subject you to. I'm sorry. My offer is rescinded."

Kim stared, feeling... she wasn't sure. Confusion mixed with horror and understanding. She wasn't naïve, she knew the world was like this. But somehow, she thought she could get through it without being crushed by the depression of it all. She thought Dr. Director had done that, and Kim had admired and secretly cheered that it was possible.

But she hadn't avoided the jaded perspective. She'd just buried it under policy and faked enthusiasm for perfect justice. She wasn't the idol Kim was looking for, just another soldier in an army that questioned its motives every day. Did growing up have to mean giving up on your ideals? Wasn't there anyone who was both happy and aware of the truths of the world?

Kim looked at Shego, for reasons she wasn't aware of. The globetrotting thief, an expert in her field, jaded, sarcastic, always unhappy, and notably mean. And yet, she was just as disgusted at the mess in GJ HQ. She didn't have _the_ answer to Kim's questions, she knew that, but maybe she had _an_ answer.

Shego, in turn, saw Kim's look, and was immediately horrified. Why are you looking to _me_, Kimmie? she thought to herself. I'm not even on your side, let alone a shoulder to cry on. I can't do anything for you, even if you had to find out this way. Even if you had to find out about humanity the same way I did.

Shego turned away. Then, after a moment's hesitation, she walked away and back out to the Infirmary.

Kim felt the warmth of Ron's hands on her shoulders before even registering his proximity. "KP," he said softly. "We should let Dr. Director get her sleep." He softly urged her back out of the curtains and started the long walk back out to the surface. Vicki walked alongside him silently at first, then, just before they reached the emergency ladders she paused.

"I'll see you later," she said awkwardly. "I need to report to my superior. It's possible I may get reassigned with so many people in the infirmary." She looked away. "I don't think she's serious, you know. Dr. Director is a very tough woman but I think this might have been her limit. She'll probably apologize when she recovers."

"Thanks, Vicki," Ron said with a nod. He waited for Kim to start climbing the ladder then followed afterwards.

The two emerged on the surface to find dozens more GJ agents around than before. Apparently the recalled agents were regrouping on the private airfield, trying to plan their next move. Kim registered it in her mind, as she did everything else she'd seen this evening, and headed towards the jet.

Shego was standing by the small craft, leaning against the hull, trying to appear casual, but even with her arms crossed and the frown, there was still something in her green eyes that betrayed the tough exterior. Even Ron noticed something was bothering the tough-as-nails thief. She turned to look at Kim as they stood before her.

"I'll give you an out, Princess," said Shego, as curtly as possible. "Just a professional courtesy, and one time only."

"What are you saying, Shego?" asked Kim, the first words she'd said since Dr. Director talked to her.

"Look, I was once young and naïve as you are," admitted Shego. "I did the hero thing, as you know. But, I found out some things that... put my life and what I was doing in perspective. It was very disturbing and I was off my game for a while." She folded her arms. "This hero thing you do, it'll get you killed if you're not sharp enough. Distractions lead to mistakes and well, you know what mistakes lead to."

Shego looked down at the pavement. "Say the word, and you'll never see me again."

"You're giving up evil?" asked Kim.

"Did I say that?" Shego snarled, irritated. "I _am_ evil, I can't give it up. I will always be evil and always be a criminal to you. I'm just saying, if I can help it, I'll keep us from crossing paths. I'll give you the same courtesy that Dr. Director just did."

Kim closed her eyes and sighed. Too much had happened at once, she hadn't had the opportunity to really think things through. Ever since Drakken went 'missing' it had been one thing after another, with very small breaks in between. Everyone was expecting Kim to know what she wanted all of a sudden. She wasn't sure yet what her goals were, what she wanted her life to mean, and who she wanted to have around her during it. But there was one thing she was sure of.

"I know a cop-out when I hear it," Kim said, clarity returning to her eyes. "That's not a courtesy, Shego. Not what you're offering nor what Dr. Director was offering. She wasn't trying to protect me and neither are you. You're both trying to absolve yourself of guilt for getting 'innocent Kim Possible' involved in your deadly lives."

"You ungrateful little--" Shego started, but Kim held up her hand.

"You didn't get me involved in anything, Shego." Kim stood strong. "I put myself in this life, and I set myself up to cross paths with you. Not _specifically _you, mind, but all the same, I made a choice to fight the kind of evil you and Drakken represent. I also made the choice to fight the evil Gemini represents, even if it turns out to be a darker, more serious kind of evil."

Kim frowned. "I don't want to hear about you sparing me anything. If you're going to steal something, I'll go to stop you. There's no element of control you have there, Shego. I will always stop you."

Shego blinked, then allowed the very corners of her lips to curl every so slightly. "That's awfully arrogant talk, you've got there."

"Maybe," said Kim looking to the side. "But then again, anything is Possible for a Possible."

"Oh, okay, that's just about the lamest saying you've got," Shego quipped. "Word games with your name? Please. I don't even let Drakken get away with that."

The mention of Drakken brought back a few heavy feelings about what as going on in GJ headquarters and neither girl felt comfortable. "We're going to find out what this is all about," Kim said, assuredly.

"Yes, _we_ will," Shego said, arching her brow at the cheerleader. "The question is, where to?"

"Oh, home of course," said Kim, looking to a sleepy Ron beside her. "We've got classes, you know."

"_Classes?_ That's your big plan?"

----------------

Disney's Kim Possible in

**Disappearing Doctor**

By Adam Leigh

Part IV: Escalation

----------------

Agent Vicki Grimes was starting to get annoyed standing at attention. She'd been called into her former office almost thirty minutes ago by Acting Director Jennifer Cartwright but had been largely ignored while the new Agent-In-Charge was distributing orders to other agents trying to make sense of the chaos that had occurred the previous night. Vicki had reluctantly given over her office to the mid-thirty's brunette when it was casually explained that since the Command wing of HQ was decimated, the Research wing was naturally being co-opted to replace it. Many of Vicki's colleges that had offices in Research were unhappy but given the circumstances, it was impossible to complain.

Still, Acting Director Cartwright was certainly taking her time and being rude to the agent whose office she now occupied. Vicki knew change was in the wind when she was called by the agent, but she hadn't realized that it was going to be in the expectation of manners.

"Sorry to make you wait, Agent Grimes," Director Cartwright suddenly said, dismissing the other agents in the office and waving Vicki forward. "As you can imagine, just the simple act of recalling all of our agents has become a nightmare. We've got communications using cell phones, of all things, to get reports from our Far East operatives. There are some procedures for communicating over unsecured lines but, unfortunately, they haven't been enacted in years. Nobody really knows them well."

The Acting Director put pushed her dark bangs out of her face and opened up one of several manila folders on the desk. Vicki noticed her own copies of the Ron Factor reports had been swept to the side and now lay in an unorganized pile in the corner of the room... next to the trash can. The blonde simmered.

"Agent Victoria L. Grimes," said Cartwright. "I see here you were recruited for our accelerated program."

"Yes, sir," replied Vicki. "I was contacted by the head of Agent Recruitment when I was sixteen. He was interested in my preliminary work in Behavioral Dynamics, which were really just scribbles I did during the university classes I audited in High School."

"You were made an agent later that year," continued the Acting Director. "Assigned to the accelerated agent program, your field training was done in Munich, your preliminary research assignment in Barcelona. How did you end up in Middleton, then?"

"I was called to do some work on the Ron Factor research," Vicki said. "Project 25295J. I was allowed to stay onboard here in HQ Research afterwards in order to be closer to the University I'm pursuing my doctorate at."

Cartwright nodded. "Your field work is minimal but successful. There is one file here, from a mission you participated in in Prague. Your partner, a Lisa Weller, attempted to go rogue during a simple disable-and-capture assignment. A report from Agent Biggs here says you had a violent struggle with your partner over the matter but ultimately you prevailed and reported the event to your superior. Agent Weller was turned over to GJ Internal Security and you were offered a permanent position in Biggs' Prague team after you recovered from injuries suffered during Weller's attempted subversion."

"I declined, ma'am," replied Agent Grimes, getting annoyed. That was the last memory she wanted to dredge up. "I have no interest in that kind of field work, I prefer research. And, if you don't mind me asking, why are we discussing my history with GJ?"

"Because I want to get a proper understanding of your personality and abilities." The Acting Director closed the file. "You have a gift for detail and for understanding the relationships between both literal and figurative objects. I want you on the team to figure out how we were infiltrated."

"I-infiltrated?" Vicki was confused. This is the first she'd heard of any 'infiltration' occurring at GJ. "I was under the impression the Fly-On-The-Wall bombs came through the air ventilation shafts through the service ducts."

"That is true," nodded Cartwright. "But they were only detected after reaching the first operational level. No intrusion detection was recorded, no shaft entry alarm triggered, no proximity alarm to any GJ service entrance. Several layers of perimeter security were completely circumvented by the drones. I fail to believe in luck."

Vicki's eyes widened. "Somebody knew how to get the flies into GJ headquarters," she realized.

"Indeed. They entered mostly without detection and knew exactly where to strike to disable us. This was an inside job or was assisted by inside information." The Acting Director stood and walked over to Vicki and looked her in the eyes. They were almost the same height, Grimes thought.

"I appreciate you allowing me to use your office," Cartwright continued. "I'm afraid I must ask something bigger of you, however. Become skeptical of your friends here at Global Justice. Someone did something unethical and wrong, and it could have been anybody, even people you normally trust. The team you will be joining is reviewing everybody's service record, all their relationships, and all communications coming in and out of this base. They will be examining whatever non-magnetic records exist of the event, and trying to determine the exact locations of every agent leading up to the attack. I need you to use that gift of relationship finding and see the connection between the attack and the agent who leaked the information. Finally, I need you to keep everything confidential outside of the team. Even me, as I'm as much as a suspect as anyone."

Vicki wavered. The weight of what she was being asked to do was almost crippling. "Are you sure I'm the right person for this?" she asked, weakly.

"I do," nodded the Agent-In-Charge. She pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it to Grimes. "This will gain you access to the secure room on level 5 where the rest of the team is. Please report there."

Vicki took the card and nodded, saluting once. Turning on her foot she left the office. The agents outside the doors saluted to her as she passed and then entered the office, leaving her in the hallway alone.

-----------

Kim woke suddenly and blinked to clear her eyes of the sleep that had so suddenly taken a hold of her. Being up almost all night infiltrating bases and witnessing horrors at GJ headquarters were finally taking their toll on the seventeen-year-old and she had passed out during 1st period. She looked around the room to get her bearings.

On the good side, she was in her History room, which was the class she had first period. On the bad side, it was empty save for Dr. Rick busy writing at his desk. A quick glace at the clock confirmed that it was no longer first period. Kim screamed internally at herself for sleeping through most of the class AND the two bells between first and second period.

Dr. Rick looked up as Kim started to gather her books up. "Ah, you're awake," he said with a concerned look on his face. He walked slowly over to her as she stuffed the books into her backpack.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Rick," said Kim, zipping the bag. "I'll make it up, just tell me what we did and I'll read up tonight." She slung the bag over her shoulder and started to get up.

"Hang on," the teacher said as he reached her and sat on a nearby desk. "You don't have to rush. I told your physics teacher you were running an errand for me and would be late. She was fine with it."

Kim sighed in relief. "Thank you, I really appreciate that." She collapsed back into her chair. "I just had a long night."

"Maybe you should go home," suggested Rick. "If you're so exhausted you might want to try to get some real sleep. I can call your parents for you."

"No, no," Kim waved her hands. "It's okay. I really should be used to this by now." She thought for a second. "Also, the pep rally is today and if I'm not in it, I'm pretty sure Bonnie will demand my head on a stick."

The teacher laughed. "Bonnie... Rockwaller, right?" he said with a smile. "She's in my 4th period class. I don't know if I'd consider her dangerous, just a little proud." He thought for a moment. "Very bright though."

"She's intent on proving herself better than me." Kim shook her head. "She thinks just because I miss a few practices while off saving the world it means I'm not committed to cheerleading."

"I don't suppose you've done anything to goad her on, have you?" Rick asked with an arched brow.

Kim looked abashed. "Well, maybe... it's not like I'm going to stand there and let her push me down!"

"That's funny," said Rick without laughing. "I wouldn't think someone like you would care what others think."

"I don't, really. It's just, well, it's _Bonnie_." Kim looked at her teacher out of the corner of her eye. "She's a special case."

Now Rick laughed. "Don't worry about it, you're young I won't hold it against you. Here, let me walk you to your next class so I can make sure Mrs. Kalvis doesn't get on your case." He stood up and motioned to the door.

"Thanks," Kim said as they left the room. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but why are you being so nice to me? I don't even know you."

"Didn't Ron tell you?" The dark haired teacher ran a hand through his hair.

"He told me I've saved a couple of artifacts you own in the past, but that seems more like a 'favor-type' thing. You've been acting like Ron and my guardian angel the past few days."

"Well, actually, the other teachers are going to get suspicious if I keep that up, so don't expect as much leeway with me in the future," Dr. Rick admitted. "But, honestly, I don't think a thoughtful person should be penalized in life for sticking their neck out to save the everyman from trouble. You act like we all _should_, Kim, and not only that, you seem to have inspired your close friends to do the same. If I can contribute to allowing something as infectious as being a good person spread, then I rest easier at night."

Kim blushed. "Thanks, Dr. Rick."

"Don't go thinking you deserve special treatment," he reminded her. "Even if you're doing good, breaking the rules always has a price."

Kim nodded as they reached her classroom. "Thanks again, Dr. Rick."

The teacher raised his voice so the classroom could hear. "Thank you for your help, Ms. Possible, sorry to delay you." He winked at her where no one could see.

"You're welcome," Kim said with a smile then entered her class to find her seat. Rick watched from the doorway for a moment, stopping to wave at his fellow teacher, before turning to head back to his room.

-----------

An empty villa was the last thing that Shego expected to see when she finally returned after getting her jet refueled. After witnessing the horror that was GJ headquarters, Shego was ready to give Andy Lipsky the third degree about what her son had done. The ex-villain may have claimed not to know about Dr. Drakken's quest for world domination, but the charade to keep her in the dark had gotten very old. If Dr. D really was working with Gemini to do the sort of things Shego had seen last night, then she wasn't against letting his doleful mother in on the truth.

But she wasn't there.

Neither was Omega, the Gemini henchman who'd revealed the location of the WWEE base, which didn't bother Shego on it's own but combined with the absentee mother, seemed much more significant.

There was a note, however, addressed to Shego. Annoyed and curious at the same time, the international thief picked up the paper and read it carefully. It was from Mrs. Lispky.

"I have a meeting of the Rotary Club tomorrow so I decided to head home. That nice man with the Greek letter on his chest wanted to go and since you got the information you needed I told him it was okay. Please make sure Drewby calls me the minute you rescue him so I know he's all right. Don't stay out too late and please don't get my son caught up in any more of your villainy."

Shego raised an eyebrow and couldn't decide if she was happy the shrew was gone or upset that she released her prisoner without asking. Not that she was going to do much more with Omega aside from maybe interrogate him a little to make sure he didn't know of any other Gemini bases. She didn't really expect him to be useful again.

Ultimately, Shego smiled. Yes, it was a good thing Lipsky was gone. She could finally get back to her vacation. Relax in the sun, get back on Juarez's schedule. Just let Kimmie take care of this Drakken-Gemini business. Shego was not a hero, she was evil! It was far time she did something fun, something to remind herself how good she was. Maybe rob a bank or a jewelry store. Yes. Kim might even come to stop her, which would be great! She could show up that brat for what she said to her last night.

But first, she'd catch some of the sun she'd missed in the last few days. Without a second thought, Shego peeled off her green and black uniform and tied a two-piece on. Slipping a pair of sunglasses onto her nose she grabbed a towel and exited her Caribbean villa to hit the sands.

The sun was warm on her skin and she almost giggled at how nice it felt. Digging through abounded lairs twice in one week was dirty work and cramped all her muscles up from being combat ready the whole time. Now she could unwind, let her guard down, and soak up vacation she was on before Mrs. Lipsky interrupted her massage.

The carnage Gemini caused occupied just a small portion of her thoughts, dark in the corner. She could ignore it for now, right? There were more than enough capable people out there trying to fix things, what more good could Shego do anyhow?

Shego _barely_ shivered when she thought of those GJ agents, many of which were unarmed scientists, who had gotten caught in the micro-explosive blasts. She also felt only _slightly_ dirty when she thought of the hand she'd played in helping Drakken research how to make those bombs. She also only tasted a _little_ bile in her throat when she imagined what the next attack will look like if someone didn't stop Gemini.

The thief frowned and felt ill. Then she _almost_ sprained her wrist when she slammed her glowing palm into the sand and yelled. "Dammit, I'm not going soft!"

She stood up, headed back toward her villa, and got out a fresh green and black uniform. As she prepared herself to fly back to Middleton, she tried to ignore the tiny voice in her head that was proud of her for not giving up.

-----------

Monique looked at her lunch table and sighed. "Okay, so the perky chica with the Ron obsession is suddenly gone after indicating yesterday that she'd be impossible to remove. The two of you look like whatever you did last night it wasn't sleep and Ron seems disappointed." She pointed at her cohorts with a spoon. "Do I have to guess what happened or are you just going to tell me?"

Kim sighed and stared at Monique. "So not the drama, Monique," she said and ate her glop. She'd forgotten the apples this morning, among other things. "We were up late last night dealing with the Gemini attack on GJ. It was..." she shivered, "pretty awful."

"Details?" inquired Monique.

"No, I don't think I can talk about it right now," Kim shook her head. Her Kimmunicator chimed. "Or maybe I will," she added, pulling out the pocket computer. "What's the sitch, Wade?"

"Kim," nodded Wade. He looked energetic, which made Kim envious. "I've been scouring the net looking for any new or leads that could lead to Gemini, just like you asked."

"And you found something?"

"I think so," Wade said, then changed the screen on the Kimmunicator to show a map with five red dots on it. "In the last six hours there have been a series of coordinated thefts across the world, which all started the moment Gemini's attack started. I don't think it's a coincidence."

"Neither do I," Kim said, frowning. "So the attack on GJ was just a diversion?"

"Some diversion," mumbled Ron, as he had his head in his arms, trying to catch a quick nap.

"Not a diversion," Wade's face returned to the screen. "GJ watched a majority of these sites on their global security network. If any of them had been hit they would have known and notified the other sites. But last night their whole communication and security network failed because of the attack. The intra-network alerts didn't sound so the other locations on the security list didn't know there had been breaches."

"That was their goal?" asked Kim. "To disable the security on a few... buildings? What was stolen?"

"Seven central American artifacts." The screen changed again to show pictures of the seven pieces. "Old pieces, parts of a whole set of collections around Aztec mythology."

"All Aztec pieces? Is there any connection to them?" Kim puzzled. "Gemini doesn't seem like the collector sort, and this was a big plan to enact just to take a piece of history."

"I'm not sure," said Wade, changing the view on the Kimmunicator again. "They were all classified as being from different areas of the Aztec civilization, parts of different tribes and with different histories. If there's some connection, aside from general geography, I'm not sure what it is."

"No big," said Kim. "We've got our own resident expert." She shut off the Kimmunicator and tapped Ron on the shoulder to wake him up.

"Dr. Rick?" asked Monique.

Ron yawned and began to stand. Kim just nodded. "He said it was his specialty on the first day. 'Central American Archeology.' Come on, Ron."

The blonde sidekick seemed to shake off his tired expression as Kim urged him forward and was soon back to his lively self. "You don't think we'll get to sleep at all this week, do you?" he asked.

"Only if the world stops being in danger," Kim said with a smile.

"That's a no, isn't it?" Ron said. Kim said nothing as they approached Dr. Rick's classroom and noticed him outside of the room on his cell phone.

"No, I'm afraid not," Rick said into the small plastic device. "I'm not really interested in what you think, I was only doing this as a favor to--" He paused then scowled. "You know this is exactly why I didn't want to get involved with you folk, you're all way too bossy for your own good." He paced around and noticed Kim and Ron approaching. His scowl softened. "I'm sorry, but I hope things work out for you and if she ever comes back tell her to call me." He paused for a second more then hung up the phone.

"Dr. Rick?" asked Kim as they reached him. "Is everything all right?"

The teacher smiled. "Yeah, I'm just having a dispute with some people at the University. They want to change the focus of my research to something more commercially viable." He looked lost in memories for a moment. "Keana would have a fit if she was still around."

"Keana?" asked Ron. "She an old girlfriend?"

"In a way," said Rick. "She devised a part of the Explorative History discipline called Theoretical Anthropology. I worked with her for many years as she searched for evidence of this Dark Ages mystic she insisted existed." He sighed. "She died before her time."

"Oh," said Ron, awkwardly. "I'm sorry."

"Anyway, I have a class, kids, so if you excuse me." He turned to open the door to his classroom.

"Wait, Dr. Rick," said Kim quickly. "I wanted your opinion on something." She pulled out the Kimmunicator. "These artifacts were stolen earlier this morning. They're all ancient Aztec pieces and I wondered if you knew of any connection between them."

The teacher hesitated. "Well, I'll take a look, but I can't take much time." He took the Kimmunicator and looked at the screen. "I could give you a better opinion if you came back..." he trailed off.

Kim waited for a second then, when Dr. Rick frowned, she turned to Ron, who only shrugged. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Rick pressed a button on the Kimmunicator and frowned deeper. "These aren't Aztec artifacts, they're Mayan. These pieces make up the Mantle of Tenoch."

"Who's Tenoch?" asked Kim.

"He was the legendary founder of the Aztec civilization," said Dr. Rick, running his free hand through his hair. "He was supposed to be a mighty man, he foresaw the future of his people as a great empire and the trouble that would lead to their downfall. I wrote a thesis on him for my decorate."

"Wait a minute, Dr. Rick," said Ron. "You just said it wasn't Aztec."

The teacher looked up from the screen. "It's not. Tenoch claimed the Mantle as his own but he didn't make it. He found it among the ruins of a Mayan temple and wore it. Some tales claim it gave him supernatural powers, even the ability to foresee the future."

"Supernatural powers?" asked Kim. "But those are just legends."

"Possibly," said Rick. "Who could tell? The mantle was long through to have been lost. Probably because these pieces were all classified wrong and spread across five different collections. Not to mention everything that was either destroyed or redistributed during Cortez's conquest made it hard to trace."

"So, it's possible that wearing this Mantle will give the thieves supernatural powers?" Kim asked, frowning.

"Oh, no, not at all," said Rick with a smile. He pressed another button on the Kimmunicator and held it out to Kim. "They're missing a piece."

Ron and Kim examined the screen, it showed a helmet. "But, this was stolen this morning, I already told you that." Kim looked confused.

"That," Dr. Rick pointed to the screen for emphasis. "Is a fake. It's a very well done copy of the original that the owner had made because the original was too valuable to put on tour."

"Ookay," said Ron suspiciously. "How do you know that?"

"Because the original is in my private collection in my family's building in New York City." Rick smiled. "That one is labeled as a fake, but nobody knows the truth about it but me and now you two."

"Way to go, Dr. Rick," cheered Ron.

"When they put together that Mantle, they're going to wonder what's wrong," Kim mused. "It's possible they'll go after the piece you have."

"Good luck on that," said Rick. "I have some of the best security in the world guarding my building."

Kim blinked. "It wouldn't happen to be Global Justice, would it?"

Rick gaped. "How did you know?"

Ron sighed. "There's something you should know about your 'top security in the world.'"

-----------

"You look like the toy addition to a Kid's Meal," grumbled Dr. Drakken, bound to a simple chair in the command center of WWEE's now primary base of operations. The hideout was essentially a giant star, with a giant operations room in the center and stalks that led out to five different sub-rooms, each smaller than the primary one, that all had different purposes. Right now most of Gemini's henchmen had gathered in the center room to witness the 'crowning' as the mastermind had coined it, but a few still existed in the wayward branches of the base, their actions being shown on the huge array of security monitors on the east wall.

"You're just grumpy because I'm going to wear the Mantle first," snapped Gemini, holding the Helm of Tenoch in his hands. A giant spotlight (which Drakken noticed Gemini seemed to enjoy putting in his bases) shown down in the center of the big room, illuminating the main console that Gemini sat at and the area around it where Dr. Drakken had been tied. Gemini himself was standing on his chair, one foot on the console, and holding the last piece of the Mantle in his hands. Nearby, the shaking, perpetually nervious Pepe, Gemini's pet Chihuahua, was being held in henchman Beta's hands.

"I'm grumpy," said Drakken, "because you don't seem to know what a 'team' is." He hopped with the chair to turn to face Gemini directly. "You agreed to a partnership for the use of my micro-bombs and then just took them from me when I was done without telling me what you were using them for and now you have this fancy superhero mask that you won't even let me try on for my trouble." Drakken pouted. "You're not going to make many friends that way!"

"I won't need to make friends," sneered Gemini, moving the Helm above his head. "Once I've got power akin to a god."

Drakken struggled against his ropes then sighed. "Even Shego's never stolen my glory like this."

"Quiet." Gemini postured. "Behold, men, my ascension!" He closed his eyes and slowly brought the helm towards his head.

"I've never abandoned a lair without being kicked out before either," Dr. Drakken muttered loudly.

Gemini paused, and opened one eye. "Are you quite finished?" he asked.

"It's _bad form_!" the doctor yelled. "A lair is like a villain's home! You can't abandon your home if you can help it! You just gave it over to Kim Possible!"

Gemini sighed. "It was all part of the greater plan to get the Mantle of Tenoch. Now, please, be quiet, this is an important moment for everyone here."

"Bah," grunted Drakken. "It's an important day for you, the rest of us only get to watch."

"I assure you, once I am as like a god I will use my infinite power to benefit us all." Gemini nodded assuredly. "I promise."

"You promised to work WITH me to get that toy, that turned out lousy." Drakken looked over at the collected henchmen. "Does he really ever keep his promises?"

The henchmen looked confused at one another. A man with a Sigma sign on his chest spoke up. "With us or himself?"

"With you of course!" yelled Drakken. "That's what this is all about. Is he down with the hiz-azz or will he leave us high and dry?"

"Generally speaking?" clarified Sigma.

"Yes!"

"Then no, not really," said Sigma. "Most of us don't live to see the end of his plans because he terminates anyone who fails him. Since it's not in the contract that he can do that, he's technically cheating us."

Drakken boggled. "Then why are you all still around if he's that mean?"

"Because he terminates anyone who tries to leave as well," the henchman continued. "It's a secrecy thing."

"Wow," said Drakken in wonder, then he paused. "Oh, that doesn't bode well for me now does it?"

Sigma shook his head.

Drakken pouted. "I miss Shego."

"Excuse me?" said Gemini impatiently. "I am in the middle of becoming a god here, can we be insubordinate afterwards when I can smite you all with a thought? My arms are really getting tired."

"Very well," grumbled the prisoner.

"Thank you."

Gemini's hands slowly brought the helm downwards. The pace seemed to slow the closer it got to resting on his scalp. Even Drakken craned his head in anticipation. He'd never witnessed the coronation of a god before and was wondering if the lightshow would be as impressive as other 'magical' devices he'd heard of.

Eventually the helm touched down on Gemini's head and he raised his hands, palms wide to the sky, opening his eyes wide.

And waited.

After that, he waited a little more.

"Nnng," Drakken made noise. "Is it working?"

"Hang on," said Gemini, moving one of his hands to hold up a finger. "I feel something."

"What's it like?"

"A tingling sensation in my head," explained the soon-to-be-deity. "It's like... like..." he struggled for the words before finally pulling off the helm and staring into the pit.

"What is it!" said Drakken, eager.

"Looks like fourteenth century dandruff," frowned Gemini. He shook his head instinctively.

"It didn't work, did it?" said Drakken, amused. "All this trouble for a Halloween costume."

"Quiet yourself!" yelled Gemini. "It should have worked. Something must be wrong."

"In my experience," lectured the blue villain. "Magics are nothing but trickery. Now science, there's the true magic." He nodded sagely. "Now, if we build a giant death ray--"

Gemini scowled and stormed up to Drakken poking his finger between the prisoner's eyes. "Say no more," he grumbled. The doctor silenced, if only for the moment.

Gemini thought for a moment then walked back to the large control panel. "When all pieces are assembled, there should have been a reaction," he said pressing buttons. "All of our research points to this." A translucent screen appeared showing all the pieces of the Mantle that the head of WWEE was wearing. "Is there a time or a location element that I'm missing?"

"Your research was probably lousy," mused Drakken. "You should consult the source." Gemini stared daggers at the doctor. "At least, that would be what I would do if my calculations failed."

Gemini opened his mouth to yell but paused, then studied the screen again. He rubbed his goatee idly. "Yes, that may not be a bad idea."

-----------

The tall, long brown haired history teacher picked up another fallen piece of decorations after the lengthy but generally successful Pep Rally that had occurred earlier in the day. Middleton High was known for it's energetic assembles, he had learned, and what was performed during the last period of the day was nothing short of a Superbowl halftime show.

Well, at least as far as energy was concerned. There were no explosives or scandalous malfunctions that marked the commercial football display. Just kids with nothing on their minds except trying to generate excitement for a new school year and the start of the football season. Nothing brought high school students together more than skimpy cheerleader outfits and nonsense games with quarterbacks.

Dr. Rick chuckled to himself as he pulled down a banner and started crumpling it up. He had agreed to stay after school to help clean up with Mr. Barkin, but the latter had found a few 'delinquents,' as he called them, smoking behind the school and had gone to deliver his famous reprimands. The ex-military officer turned substitute teacher turned... well, Rick wasn't sure what you'd call a teacher who seemed to permanently substitute half the classes in the school aside from overworked. The man called himself 'stern, but fair' and the history teacher had to admit that it was an accurate statement, even if the man seemed single-minded at times.

The large gym had long shadows stretching across it as the sun slowly began to set. It was starting to get late, but thankfully Rick was almost done with his cleanup work. The smaller things, like dropped pencils, dirt and paper, would be picked up by the overnight janitorial staff. The teacher was only responsible for the larger decorations, then he could head home for the weekend.

Assuming Barkin ever finished reprimanding those students so he could lock up the gym.

Rick closed the last trash bag and headed for the hallways out to the bulk of the school. Barkin had to be around somewhere, maybe the history teacher could appeal to his reasonable side again if only to keep the kids from having to be in detention until 2025.

"Mr. Barkin?" called Rick as he entered the administrative wing of the school. The lights were on but he could see no sign of the massive teacher. Even the kids he should have been reprimanded were missing.

A soft crack echoed down the halls and caught Rick's attention. "Hello?" he called out experimentally. The sound had come from the halls leading to the music rooms. Rick shrugged and followed the sound.

The soft squeak of a rubber shoe against polished floors was the only sign of the purple suited henchman that had crept up behind the history teacher. Instinct taking over, Rick pivoted quick on one foot to see the muscular man with a Iota on his chest and holding a large canvas bag.

Sliding one foot back and raising his hands defensively, Rick narrowed his eyes at the henchman. "What do you want?" he asked, just to be sure what was happening.

The henchman said nothing when suddenly darkness fell over Rick as something covered his eyes and strong arms grabbed him from behind. The teacher struggled violently, kicking his legs around and trying to push against the muscular arms. The Doctor was tall and thin but not weak, and he felt the arms move slightly back against his push before a second pair of arms tackled him and held him against he ground with knees pressed into the small of his back.

The WWEE soldier that had grabbed the teacher from behind looked up at Iota. "Man, this guy is stronger than he looks," he said comparing the size of his own muscles to the shape in the canvas bag.

Iota just rolled his eyes. "Don't be impressed by our prison," he grumbled. "Just tie him up so we can get out of here. I hated high school."

"That's a shame," came a young, female voice from the end of the hall. The soldiers looked up in surprise and saw a red haired girl in a black turtleneck and olive pants. "I kinda like it here."

"Kim Possible," said Iota as the girl in question starting running towards them. In response, Iota reached into his pocket and pulled out a small rectangular box that looked like a car alarm and hit a button.

The world suddenly turned on its side. Kim grabbed her head and tried to right herself as she felt the floor surge and turn to become 90-degrees from where it was before. Her whole body felt like Jell-o as she tried to stare through the blurry vision at the henchmen who she couldn't' be sure were even there anymore. The ground rushed up suddenly as she collapsed.

"What's... going on?" she said, feeling nauseous. She wasn't sure if she was lying still of flying through the air at 90 miles per hour. It was all very disorienting.

"Kim!" the sound of Wade's voice suddenly echoed in her ear. "Are you all right?"

"Wade," she muttered then almost lost her lunch. "Feeling... weird."

"Hang on," he assured her. The familiar tapping from his computer seemed like a nice to concentrate on, so Kim focused on it, trying to draw stability from the constant noise. After a few seconds Kim felt rapidly better. "There," said Wade, conclusively.

Kim's vision cleared and she stood immediately. "What was that all about?" She looked around and saw the henchmen were gone and the only thing left behind was the small black car alarm.

"It's a sonic disrupter," said Wade, speaking through the earpiece Kim was wearing. "It's emitting a sound that resonates with the fluids in your head that normally allow for balance. I'm generating a disrupting wave from the Kimmunicator that's canceling the effects. You should probably turn off the source, though."

Kim stomped on the car alarm that cracked and crumbled under her heel. She looked back down the hall and noticed the door to the outside at the end slightly ajar. She dashed down it and ran into the courtyard in time to see the action.

Shego was standing between the henchmen, her hands glowing green, as they took turns attacking her from different angles. Her skill was obviously greater than the uniformed WWEE henchmen, but they were growing in numbers as a floating craft lingered nearby with a half dozen more men rappelling down from it.

Kim watched as Shego very easily held her own against the swarm of men, each leaping at and punching her at the same time. Shego obviously had a lot of practice fighting against a group. Her smirk, that Kim always noticed during their own battles, was ever present. She reveled in the battle, the cheerleader realized. But she was holding back, and Kim knew why.

Eventually the mob grew too great for Shego to keep track of everyone who wasn't actively attacking her and the tied up body of Dr. Rick was quietly snatched away. By the time Shego realized where the body had gone, the henchmen were already climbing onto the flying vehicle. The villainess cursed and launched herself over the henchmen's heads and ran towards the craft, flinging bolts of green energy at the ducking soldiers.

The craft was pitted and scarred by the blasts, but soared off all the same, heading into the setting sun. Shego stood, angry, as they got away, and extinguished her green flames.

Kim ran up beside Shego and tried to track the small metal vehicle against the bright sun but lost it in moments. Shego sighed. "Took you long enough to show up," she sneered at the cheerleader. "I saw you by the door."

"I didn't want to ruin your fun," said Kim. "And you seemed to be having fun."

"Feh," Shego said with a wave of her hand. She turned to look at the remaining henchmen. Those that were not unconscious had run off, leaving their fallen brethren behind. "These guys are amateurs. No skill at all, just size on their side."

"They still managed to steal Dr. Rick from you," Kim said, smirking.

"I saw them!" Shego said, defensively. "They dress in giant purple jumpsuits, how could I miss them? I let them think they surprised me."

"Sure you did," nodded Kim sarcastically as she headed back towards the school.

"Oh, you're really asking for it, Princess."

As they approached the door to the school they encountered Ron walking out with Barkin and two kids from school behind him. Ron smiled and motioned behind him. "They were tied up in the principal's office," he said. "Rufus and I checked the rest of the school, nobody else was here."

"Good," said Kim, pulling out her Kimmunicator. "Wade? How's it look?"

Wade smiled on the screen. "I'm reading him loud and clear," he said. "They seem to be taking him westward towards Nevada. I'll let you know when they land."

"Great." Kim shoved the Kimmunicator back into her pocket. "It seemed to have worked. We'll just follow Dr. Rick's signal all the way back to Gemini. No big."

"It's about time," said Shego. "I'm real tired of these subterfuge games. I'm more of a straightforward type of person."

"You'll get your shot at a real fight," Kim assured her. "Real soon."

-----------

Vicki stared at her laptop for the eighth straight hour in a row. The words on it had blurred long ago and she felt that her head was going to explode if she looked any longer. What else was there to do, though? She could sleep, but that was about it. Anything else might run the risk of seeing people other than the four agents in the 'team' and while that wasn't against the rules, Vicki had trouble hiding the guilt in her eyes. She was spying into the personal records of all the GJ HQ personnel and it felt very wrong.

Not only that, it felt so useless. She knew these people, not very well, but at least well enough to figure they'd never have been involved in this mess. 213 profiles of people that she was supposed to trust and had been suddenly asked to view as enemies. She felt dirty and useless.

"Agent Grimes," a man's voice said behind her. She turned look at Agent Francis Calden, a slightly older agent than Vicki herself, with a thick red beard and ginger hair. He wore a pair of thin frameless glasses and stared at her with a cold, emotionless look.

"Frank," replied Vicki, rubbing her eyes from the strain. "What is it?"

"I have something that... well, it might benefit from your careful eye." Francis made a reassuring smile and displayed the first emotion that Vicki had seen on the man. She forced herself to remember that he'd been doing this as long as she had and it could drain the life out of anyone.

She got up and walked with him over to his laptop. He had several screens connected to the portable device, each show a different section for a very long but bland looking log. He ran his hand over to a red line and pointed.

"This is a brief violation that occurred on Saturday," Agent Calden explained. "It happened early in the morning and only for a moment. File security failed for approximately 10 seconds before being restored."

"Wait, Saturday?" Vicki said. "You're already looking back that far?"

"I wasn't," Francis shook his head. "Until I found a similar violation on Wednesday. The event is reoccurring, every 20 hours, starting on Friday then stops on Wednesday and doesn't occur at all on Thursday."

"A program?" asked Vicki. "A virus?"

"That's what I think," nodded the red haired agent. "I checked Sunday's backups, however, and didn't find anything out of the ordinary from previous weeks or months."

"What about earlier than that?"

"Earlier than three months ago?" Francis looked surprised. "It could be impossible to tell that far back, there would be expected differences at that point. Upgrades, data migration, standard replacements... makes it impossible to compare data for anomalies."

Vicki frowned. "Okay, how about this. Let's get everything that happened on Saturday and Wednesday and try to find a correlation. I've got personnel records, you have security logs. Get me the entry records and I'll get you the staff files for them."

Francis nodded and started pulling out stacks of DVDs, paging through the dates for the two Vicki mentioned. Grimes returned to her own station, and started pulling up records of people she remembered being around on Wednesday.

Idly she clicked one of the people she recalled meeting. The file was huge, having been compiled over many decades. Many people who had interactions with GJ on a regular basis had files like this, but rarely so old. Aside from Dr. Director, nobody she'd come across today had been with the agency for longer than 20 years.

Vicki read the file carefully. She'd actually read this profile before, prior to the disaster this week, and didn't remember anything relevant from it. This time she brought her attention to the details, in the off chance that somehow this person had a connection to...

She stopped.

"Francis, can you bring up those logs from Wednesday again?" she called.

The agent replied and Vicki walked over. "No no," she said once she started looking at the screen. "Not the violations, everything from the day. I want to see every system access request."

"Okay," Agent Calden replied, uncertainly. "What time frame?"

"Night, maybe starting around 8pm our time?"

The agent tapped on his laptop, filling the screen with the report in question. Vicki's trained eyes scanned for the relation, the connection between the file she just read and Wednesday.

Then she saw it.

"Unbelievable," she muttered.

"What is it?"

Vicki slowly turned over the facts in her head, searching every angle and determined the proper approach. "Forget about last week's records," she said finally. "We need to go older. MUCH older."

"How old?" Francis saw a look of manic revelation in the eyes of his team member.

"Forty years."

The elder agent, who was not yet twenty-five himself, stared. "Were there even computers forty years ago?"


	5. Part V The First Casualty

The face on the Kimmunicator was younger, with soft featured and framed in long black hair. However it was the eyes, those ancient-looking blue eyes that bothered Kim as she stared into the small screen. The teenager had expected to see someone different when she had her genius associate set up the call, but this was beyond different. This was unsettling.

"Ah, Ms. Possible," said the woman on the screen. She pushed the bangs over her eyes aside and looked at Kim with a wide smile. "I had hoped I'd get a chance to talk to you during my tenure here, but I hadn't thought it would have been so soon."

"Just call me Kim, Director," said the teen.

"Acting Director, actually, but you can call me Jennifer since we're not going to be dealing with formalities." The GJ agent nodded slightly but kept her eyes forward. Kim felt she was being analyzed. "As I'm sure your brilliant friend told you, I'm only going have Dr. Director's position until she recovers from her injuries. Probably no more than a few weeks at best."

"So she will recover," said Kim. She felt relieved. In that hospital, amidst the chaos, it seemed as though all of GJ was decimated. "I'm glad."

"We all are. Betty does an excellent job here at headquarters, she always has pleased all of her liaisons." Jennifer's smile became slightly more natural as she said that, but quickly returned to the wide grin.

"Liaisons?" asked Kim. "What do you mean?"

"Well, naturally, you can't have the sort of infrastructure GJ does around the world without notifying at least a few of the governments in the countries you're setting up listening posts in. GJ has had a long standing relationship with the United States, with the stipulation that there be a military liaison to ensure that the government's best interests are being served." The Acting Director pointed at herself. "I was one of those liaisons, back when I was a colonel with the Air Force."

"I was ... encouraged to resign my post some time later," the Acting Director continued, no longer smiling at all. "Betty was kind enough to offer me a position here." She paused to regain her jovial posture. "But that's neither here nor their. We must return to the matter at hand."

"Right," nodded Kim. "Gemini."

"Indeed," returned Jennifer. "Naturally GJ wants to see this matter resolved with the utmost haste, but we must be cautious as well. There are still major difficulties being faced here and I don't want to risk any of Betty's people if I don't have to."

"I doubt you're going to get a better opportunity than this," Kim said.

"You are probably right, but there is a slight matter of coordinating the proper amount of people to help you. With our communications network only just recovering now, it could be considerable time until we get anyone to your position. If I can convince you to wait..."

Kim shook her head. "We can't leave Dr. Vedas like that."

"Then I'm sorry," shrugged Jennifer. "I'll have agents on their way ASAP, but it could be minutes or it could be hours. I wish it could be better, but it's the best I can do."

"Thanks," said Kim, and then pocketed her Kimmunicator. She looked over at her team while they stood beside Shego's jet parked in Kim's front yard. Ron stood confidently with Rufus on his shoulder. Shego leaned, frustrated, against the jet with her arms folded.

Shego shook her head. "I told you that was a waste of time," she said. "That cycloptic chick said to buzz off last time we saw her too."

"We could have used the backup," Ron added. "WWEE is not your average villain. But we've gone up against worse before."

"Whatever." Shego waved her hand. "Let's get going so I can kick Drakken's ass."

Kim nodded and started climbing up into the jet. She moved slightly to sit with Ron (finally!), and waited for Shego to start the engines. Ron said something comforting, and Kim nodded but she wasn't listening.

She had reservations about this plan even though she was the one who had conceived of it. Without Global Justice watching their back, she wondered if they'd be as successful as they usually were. Last time they'd gone up against Gemini, GJ took care of the many henchmen in WWEE leaving only Gemini for Kim to worry about. This time it would be different.

As the slim plane took to the air another thought struck Kim. All the things that had happened recently had been very competently planned. Gemini's kidnapping of Drakken, the assault on GJ, theft of the artifacts, the kidnapping of Dr. Rick. While the last was allowed to happen by Kim, the sonic disrupter was a surprise, and each of the previous parts had been fairly well accomplished. If you took into account the fact that GJ isn't even in a state to retaliate as part of their strategy, WWEE had seriously improved their game since kidnapping Ron to steal the secret of the 'Ron Factor.'

Gemini must have been brushing up on his villain tactics all this time.

Either that or something else was happening that Kim hadn't even yet considered.

----------------

Disney's Kim Possible in

**Disappearing Doctor**

By Adam Leigh

Part V: The First Casualty

----------------

Dr. Richard Vedas awoke to find a few eyes staring at him intently. They were small and beady, and one belonged to a short, stocky man with an eyepatch, a beard, and wearing a uniform similar in theme to the men who had grabbed him earlier. The other two belonged to a thinner man with bluish skin -- why his skin was blue was a matter for another time -- with an unsightly scar and dark hair. The latter was staring at him with the same intensity of the former, however he blue man was tied to a chair much like Rick was.

His neck throbbed dully, the remains of a rather forceful hit to his spinal column to knock him out en route to... wherever it was that he'd been taken. He remembered the uniformed soldiers grabbing him, binding his arms and legs, and throwing him into a flying aircraft of some sort. Afterwards they talked to one another about escaping his student's attack, the long trip to the base, and who had been on last night's episode of "Colson's Creek."

Rick breathed in relief, feeling the slight pressure in his right ear meaning that the small tracking device that Kim had placed there remained. Whether it still worked, was entirely beyond his ability to tell. If the world-class super heroine's plan was working, he'd just have to stall these interrogators long enough for her and the cavalry to arrive. Assuming Global Justice cared at all about his kidnapping anymore.

"Ah, awake are we?" said the blue skinned man. Kim has suspected that this guy -- Drakken, she called him -- would be here. She didn't indicate anything about ropes, however. Richard suspected there had been some sort of insurrection between him and the unbound one that Kim called 'Gemini.'

"That's typically how people classify me when I've got my eyes open and talking," quipped Rick, trying to ignore the pain from his neck. "Except my mother, actually."

"A jokester," Gemini said while walking around since he was the only one who could. "That will make this process all the more entertaining."

"What process?" asked Rick. He glanced around and noticed the tray of surgical instruments nearby as well as the huddled shadows of Gemini's henchmen just beyond the reach of the bright light above Rick's head.

"Of interrogation," Drakken said sinisterly, slightly hindered by his inability to move more than his head. "You will answer our questions," he paused, then continued darkly, "one way, or another."

"You know, I am a teacher," the brown haired prisoner commented. "I typically answer questions without much coaxing. I also answer my e-mail... well, eventually. I'm usually kind of busy."

"An e-mail?" said Drakken. "That's no fun."

"If you're so agreeable," interrupted Gemini. "Then this will be a quick process and you'll find yourself on your way shortly. No... excessive harm will come to you."

Rick didn't like how that sounded. "What, uh, what can I help you with, then?"

Unbidden, one of the purple-suited henchmen rolled a cart into the light which held seven aged pieces of clothing made from shaped stone and tattered strips of leather. Rick scanned the pieces quickly, comparing them with his memory of the mantle, and tried to mask his relief that the helm was indeed the replica he'd had made.

"Is that--" Rick started, building an air of false surprise. "Is that the Mantle of Tenoch! It's supposed to be lost! Only the helm was ever found!"

"Indeed, only the helm was known to have been found," said Gemini walking purposely between Rick and the artifacts. "But they have all existed until this day, intact, and ready for someone to collect them once more."

"This display is priceless," continued Rick. "Any museum in the world would kill to have it. There are only stories that remain of Tenoch, nobody knows very much about him."

"Your scholastic pursuits are noble," said Gemini. "But I have a slightly different intention."

"What? You desire the power of a god?" joked Rick.

"Oh, yes," Drakken said, nodding. "Quite right."

The teacher's mouth became a thin line. "That's just a legend," he said, seriously. "There is no proof that the Mantle of Tenoch has any magical ability whatsoever."

"Ah, but the legends must exist for a reason," supplied Gemini.

"There are many ways to give tribute to a great warrior or a famous person in ancient times. Telling stories of their power, akin to godhood, is a very common one. It doesn't mean that he really had any power, just that people revered him."

Drakken frowned and looked at Gemini suspiciously. The latter just nodded reassuringly. "All this is true," he said, stroking his beard. "But there is more to this legend, and you know it."

"What do you mean?" Rick frowned. There was something wrong about where this conversation was going.

"Someone else has had the Mantle of Tenoch, after its namesake." Gemini bent down to look the bound teacher in the eyes. "And before it was distributed across the globe."

"How do you know that?" Rick said slowly.

Gemini turned to look away and Rick noticed that even Drakken was staring at him intently. "I have my sources," he said as he stared up at the bank of monitors glowing dimly on a far wall. "What matters, however, is that you know it's true, and that the second person to have the mantle _also_ claimed to have gained extraordinary power from the artifact."

"You seem very informed," commented the prisoner. "Why do you need me if you know so much."

"Because I know only that the Mantle was used," the mastermind of WWEE said, turning to face Rick again. "But you know the details. You've seen the journals of Cortez!"

Rick paled, this time his reaction was genuine. "I know nothing more than you," he said in monotone.

Gemini laughed wildly, drawing stares from his two observers. Placing a hand across his belly to stifle the cackling, he moved to the tray of surgical instruments. "Yes, I suspected you would say as much. We will have to know for sure, however." He picked up a small, glimmering needle.

Rick swallowed. He hoped Kim was close. This had gone far further than planned.

-----------

The soft sounds of the two uniformed members of WWEE falling to the floor were barely heard in the expansive hanger within the subterranean structure under the Nevada desert. A simple touch from Shego's glowing hands were all it had taken to knock them out, her strange power somehow overloading their nervous systems and rendering them unconscious. Afterwards, Kim and the green thief carefully dragged the bodies away, placing them near the entrance they'd used to sneak into WWEE headquarters. If Kim and Shego's track records were anything to go by, by the time they were done here the whole place would be set to self-destruct.

Ron and Rufus jumped down from the tall ladder into the hangar and landed near to Kim and Shego just as they were arranging the sleeping guards. "Well, that's a better sign than the last headquarters we infiltrated," Ron said, looking at their handiwork.

"Dr. Rick is here," said Kim, referencing the locator signal on the Kimmunicator. "Which probably means Gemini and Drakken are too."

"Well, we know Rickie's ear is here, anyway," said Shego, kicking one of the guards in spite. "These guys don't even have letters. Must be mercenaries."

"Or they just ran out of letters," said Kim, waving the device in her hand. "Wade's scans say there are at least forty people here. Most of them in the center room with Dr. Rick."

"Naturally," said Shego, sarcastically. "So, twenty-twenty? You take half the room I'll take the other half?"

"I doubt that even you could handle twenty soldiers at once," said Kim.

Shego just smirked. "Did you see those GJ thugs that tried to mess with me the other day?"

Kim shivered. She didn't want to think about any of the GJ agents right now, it brought up awful memories of...

"Let's just get going," Kim said quickly. "See what the sitch is in the center room and get Dr. Rick out of there if we can." She started running for the doors as Ron followed behind.

Shego looked after her with an arched brow. Then shook her head and followed as well.

The hangar had two doorways leading into the base, one on the far wall length-wise, and another three quarters down the long north wall. The door on the far wall was larger and had a pair of windows on it that looked out into a long wide corridor. Kim stared through the window carefully and watched for guards. A few minutes later she nodded to Ron and they slipped through the door and pressed themselves against the left wall of the corridor.

"Wade says the security station is that way," Kim pointed towards a smaller branch in the corridor. "Think you and Rufus can do something to make sure we aren't seen?"

"No problem, KP," said Ron. Rufus poked his head up out of Ron's pocket and cheered in the affirmative. They ran off down the hallway.

"Oh, god," said Shego, putting a hand to her forehead. "Relying on the doofus and the rodent to deal with the cameras. What's next? Sending the nerdlinger off to handle the fights?"

"Give it a rest, Shego," whined Kim. "You know Ron is more than capable. You did work for him once, remember?"

"That was when he had Dr. D's evil in him," snapped Shego. "And I seem to recall him getting dangerously close to defeating you that time as well."

"Which is why I trust him completely," said Kim.

"Yeah, right," Shego shook her head. "I'd _maybe_ believe that more if you weren't periodically locking lips with the buffoon."

Kim blushed furiously and tried to ignore Shego. "Let's... just get going."

"Ah, so she does have a soft spot," mocked the green thief.

Without further banter, they slipped down the wider corridor and came to an intersection between two other angled hallways which all led towards a huge pair of metal doors emblazoned "COMMAND ROOM." One of the two doors had a small porthole window in it and Kim could see the outline of a guard standing on the other side.

"Well, this won't be stealthy," said Shego, scanning the ceilings now for a vent or duct that might accommodate her size and weight. "Maybe there's another way in."

Kim inched her way up to the door and peeked quickly in, past the guard. The glass was tinted and the Command Room was apparently very dark because she couldn't see very much more than the barest hints of other henchmen and a bright light in the center of the room. Kim ducked down beneath the window and looked back at Shego.

"We can't go in this way without making a big mess," said the teen.

"Eh, why not? Let's just go in guns blazing." Shego cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

"I don't want Dr. Rick to get caught in the crossfire." Kim looked back down the corridor and noticed something. "Have you seen any female WWEE soldiers?"

Shego looked to the side. "Not yet." She crooned her neck, "Why?"

Kim pointed at the sign at the intersection of the corridors. It said "SECURITY - HANGAR - BARRACKS - GALLEY" on it with arrows pointing down each of the corridors.

"Maybe we could play a little dress-up," said Kim.

"Oh, no way," Shego held up her hands. "Have you looked at those uniforms? They're the most tacky things I've ever seen. I'd rather just take my chances with the forty guards."

"We're never going to get close enough unless we blend in," said Kim. "Come on."

"Absolutely NOT."

-----------

Forty years of records. Thousands of people coming and going through over a hundred different facilities interfaced with countless computer systems and linkages. Somewhere within all the data was a clue, a linkage, that tied a everything that had happened this week with something that started in 1965. It was a grand and complicated mystery indeed.

Which was why Global Justice Agent Vicki Grimes was positively glowing. She _loved_ mysteries, especially ones woven so tightly into a myriad of random facts and tidbits of information. There was even a possibility that the clue was gone and only ghosts or phantoms of the data she sought remained. That was even better, in her opinion.

She had been so bored growing up. Her parents were understanding enough, which is why they let her accelerate her classes, move ahead her studying, and attend college when she was still quite young. She liked to play with her friends, growing up, she wasn't anti-social, but the older she got she realized just how much more she understood, how many more things she saw in the world that they hadn't. She would talk emphatically about topics that few of the kids her age cared about and none could keep up. Even her parents couldn't keep pace with her opinions on social change and her scorn about the growth of consensus science.

Eventually the kids her age had almost nothing in common with her, and she had to look to older peers. So it was a blessing when she went to college and learned physical chemistry, human behavior and psychology. The students were weary of her but the teachers were intriguing. They encouraged her to learn more. Some with unsavory goals, as she learned early, but most were kind and wanted more than to ride her coattails to success. She was still quite inexperienced, after all, and she wouldn't be publishing until she had spent the time developing her knowledge of the fields she yearned to understand.

Then she got bored again, this time with theory. The studying was coming easy and she was starting to come up with opinions of her own again, but she started to doubt the impact her research would have. She could get published one day, and maybe scientists across the world would read about it, but ultimately, it would lead to more research and tests and experiments and if anything came of her work it could possibly be decades after her death. She wanted to see an impact now, or at least within her lifetime, and she was skeptical that it would come on the path she set upon.

So when GJ approached her, she jumped at the chance. She'd never thought of how she could apply her behavioral theories to criminology and she had to admit a perverse fascination with the criminal mind as it tended to buck social laws and traditions in favor or more anti-establishment behavior. Even GJ itself, to a certain degree, worked outside of the common social structure, supplanting the established methods of maintain law and order in the world in favor of a more proactive approach.

But she didn't want to get stuck behind a desk anymore. So she insisted on being a field agent. She wasn't in superb shape, but she hadn't let herself go, and she was still young. It was easy enough to build herself to the athletic standards that GJ demanded. She passed Agent training, got herself assigned to a department, and then got paired with a woman who ... didn't like her very much. Not very much at all, really.

Vicki shivered as she tried to make herself not think any more about what happened next.

"Are you cold?" asked Agent Francis Calden beside her, one of the four agents assigned to figuring out the mystery of Gemini's assault on GJ headquarters. "I can make some coffee."

"No, I'm fine," Vicki nodded, reassuringly. "I don't like coffee very much anyway." She looked at her laptop as it processed the 163rd data tape containing archived records of GJ's monitoring during the 1960's. She was searching for something very particular, but she wasn't sure exactly what it was. So she had no choice but to make her filter broad and go through each finding by hand.

"Are you sure that what happened this week had anything to do with this guy?" Francis said after a few moments of silence. He was holding up a manila folder containing a GJ Agent profile they'd both read very carefully.

"Not positive," the young blonde agent admitted. "But I have a feeling."

"Well, that's more than what I've got," he shrugged. "I could probably look through these logs for days and not even get to the correlation even if it existed. If your hunch narrows down the search, then I'm not one to complain."

"It hasn't narrowed it down enough," said Vicki, never looking up from the findings listed on her screen. "We just don't have the time to go through everything. If something is wrong, I mean, more wrong than us being attacked, then we have to respond to it sooner rather than later. Or someone else might get attacked."

"Still," he started. "This guy used to be a good guy! I mean, look at this record, he was a superhero! Name: Captain Fantastic. Active: 1958-1963. Stopped 38 possible world destroying events, 42 attempts at kidnapping, 65 world domination plots, and returned 18 stolen devices. He only became a GJ agent after getting married and deciding he wanted more of a home life. He disappeared in 1965 under unknown circumstances and was survived by his wife and son." He put the folder down. "What in that screams 'terrorist' to you?"

Vicki shook her head. "I don't know, I just have a feeling." She tapped on her computer, removing another record that didn't fit what she was looking for. "It's like that a lot for me, I'm not sure really what I'm looking for but I have a feeling when I'm close."

Francis smiled slightly and shrugged. "Well, you run circles around me here, so I trust you, even if I don't understand."

"Circles?" asked Vicki, glancing back at him just once. "What do you mean?"

"Your work at GJ," he said. "I've read some of it, it's all fairly well documented and well in advance of anything I've done. Not to mention you're like, several years younger than me."

"You've read my work?" The blonde paused, feeling self-concisions all of a sudden.

"I worked on the 'Ron Factor' as well. I saw your reports. They were very detailed, and quite well thought out." Francis looked aside. "You realized conclusions much sooner than the rest of us on the project. I'm almost sorry that the project was closed. I know that you findings were on the positive side. It must have felt like GJ was telling you that you were wrong."

Vicki grimaced briefly then sighed. "It's not like that," she said slowly. "Not entirely, anyway. I was very upset at the time, but... I know why the decision was made the way it was. There wasn't really anything particular about Ron by himself that made saving the world easier. I noticed that later when I was going back through my work. GJ was right to pull the plug when they did, we were heading in the wrong direction." She looked at Francis. "But yeah, it hurt back then. I don't consider myself better than anyone else at GJ, though. Everyone here is quite talented, and many are much more experienced than me."

"You're still quite talented," said the red-headed man. "And more than level-headed enough to find the link we're looking for."

Vicki blushed. "Thanks."

Francis paused, watching the attractive blonde type erratically for a few seconds, then hesitantly turned back to his laptop. He called up the next batch of exceptions and started studying them.

But stopped on the first one.

"Hang on a minute," he mused, typing furiously to create another filter to find correlating records to the one he was looking at.

"What is it?" asked Vicki, who'd turned back to face Francis again.

"There's something not right here. It's like... records have been erased." He looked at the data on his screen as his filter ran. "There are references to Captain Fantastic after his 'disappearance.' But they're only passing notes that reference events that aren't recorded."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like," Francis tried to articulate what he was quickly concluding had happened. "Like someone quickly erased a whole bunch of records about Fantastic but missed all these small unrelated pieces that connect to them. Like -- uh, tearing out a section of paper and then taping the remaining pieces together. The jagged edges don't match right. Like--"

"Like something big happened with Captain Fantastic after 1965," said Vicki. "But nobody is supposed to know about it."

"Right," nodded Francis. "Someone has erased this event from history."

"The question is, then," said Vicki. "How do we find out what it was, and why was it hidden?"

-----------

Ron breathed deeply and tried to clear his mind and take in his surroundings. His lungs burned and he felt just a slight tinge of soreness in his palms but it quickly faded. Eventually the security station at Gemini's underground base reasserted himself, as well as the unconscious bodies of the three guards that had operated it. Nearby, Rufus was apparently jumping up and down on keys and buttons at the security station, disabling cameras all over the base.

He had lost himself _again_.

There was little that Ron could say was 'normal' for him during his escapades with Kim. In fact, the words 'sick and wrong' have come to his lips more often than any person would probably have ever desired. But it was the life he got himself involved in, for better or for worse, to save the world when it needed saving, by her side.

Still, he never could have suspected that his phobia of monkeys, long ingrained in him since those days at Camp Wannaweep, would not only be overcome in three short years, but that he would come to rely on the strength of Tai Shing Pek Kwar: Monkey Kung Fu. It was almost surreal how his weakness could have been reversed entirely into super-strength.

The problem was that he couldn't exactly control it. While Monkey Fist's Monkey Idol imbued both he and Rufus was mastery of Tai Shing Pek Kwar, Ron had been less than successful at using it reliably. There were ways he could feel the power coming to him at times, when he was fighting, while he was evading. But rarely did it come on command. More often than not it would come at all and Kim or someone would save him.

Then there were other times, like just now, where something would trigger the Monkey Power and Ron himself would seem to just disappear. His technique would take over his body and mind and fight with an incredible ferocity and skill. He would forget nothing, but that didn't mean that he was in control. If he were, there might have been some elements of that ability he could call up in normal situations, but this was not the case.

Strangely, the power seemed to have a sympathetic effect. While Ron rarely felt the power strongly, there was not a time that he'd gone up against Monkey Fist without it coming to his aid. Almost as if the presence of another Tai Shing Pek Kwar master made it easier for Ron to call upon his own mastery. Rufus never demonstrated such limitations, and surely Monkey Fist was persistently using the skill, so has it been so hard for Ron?

Was it his original hate for monkeys that stopped him? Quite possibly. But he'd long since come to grips with his phobia and still his abilities were beyond reach. Even worse, in the last year, there had been only one other time, aside from now, that the mastery manifested at all. The frequency was going down. Ron had speculated that maybe the magic was fading, but there was always Rufus' ability to consider, and also the strange words of the Master Sensei at the Yamanouchi Ninja School in Japan.

"Stoppable-san," he had said when Ron asked about the 'power' after the Gorilla-DNAmy incident last year. "The Mystical Monkey Power was put upon you at your request, by stepping into the beam of the Monkey Idol. However, your attitude towards all things related to Monkeys has caused it to become separate, disjoint from yourself, and contained in a vessel that you carry wearily. I believe, however, that one day the walls that separate you from it will fall and there will no longer be a difference between the two."

Ron mused over his Master's words for a long time without coming to a conclusion on the matter.

"Eyah! Kim!" Rufus suddenly said and Ron broke his reverie to look at the few remaining cameras. Ron saw a black-and-white image of Kim and Shego attacking a few WWEE soldiers in what looked like a break room and easily defeating them. Then Kim began looking through the closets and lockers before finally pulling out an unused uniform and starting to pull it on.

"Looks like they're going to sneak into the command center, buddy," Ron said, then deliberately looking away. While he couldn't feign disinterest in Kim dressing, Shego was an entirely different matter. "Where are the cameras there? So we can check out what they're up against."

Rufus jumped around a few times again and the screen in the break room went dead and was replaced by a view in the command center. It was a vast room, with a raised platform in the center surrounded by at east two dozen WWEE soldiers. In the center could be seen Gemini and two people died to chairs. One of which was clearly Dr. Drakken and the other, with the long brown hair, Ron assumed was Dr. Rick. It was hard to tell because his head was hanging such that his long hair covered his face.

"Looks like things aren't going so swell," said Ron to which Rufus emphatically agreed. "Kim better make..."

He trailed off as he saw Gemini approach Rick with a syringe and inject it rather brutally into his arm. Shortly afterwards, the Middleton teacher began twitching slightly. Ron went pale and noticed Dr. Drakken on the screen start to get fidgety as well.

"They may get there too late," Ron said solemnly. "We have to do something, Rufus!"

-----------

Dr. Drakken struggled slightly against his ropes. He was quite rather convinced that this was no longer going to be a cooperation and that Gemini would keep whatever powers he gained from the Mantle for himself. That still didn't change his situation however, as he'd never quite gotten the hang of getting out of restraints. That's what he had Shego for.

He looked at the twitching teacher across the raised dais from him and frowned. The young man was resisting the effects of the drug the WWEE leader had given him but he wouldn't last forever. "Say, Gemini," he said. "I don't think this is all that proper."

"What do you mean?" asked Gemini, scowling at the 'doctor.' "He will tell us what we need to know one way or another. I don't see how there is anything improper with that."

"It's just not, you know, classy villain enough," Drakken explained with a nod for reinforcement.

Gemini replaced his scowl with confusion. "What ARE you talking about?"

"Mind control, that's a classy way of getting information," continued Drakken. "Or a brain vacuum, that's a good one too. These... drugs, they seem ... off the level."

The WWEE mastermind frowned. "You're babbling, aren't you?"

"Not at all," the blue doctor corrected his posture to appear less wet-noodle-like. "Coercive drugs have hallucinogenic properties, and remove the logical centers of the brain from computation. Illusion or fantasy can be indistinguishable from fact in those situations. You interrogation still might not work."

Drakken hopped in his chair slightly to face Gemini. "Technology, however, is much more precise. Decisions are made and enforced and utilize higher-brain functions to operate instead of short-circuiting them. We could be sure what he's telling us true."

"Intriguing," mused the cyclops. "But I do not have the patience to wait for you to create such a device, this is the fastest way." He gestured towards the teacher. "I will increase the dosage gradually until he tells us what we need to know."

Drakken grimaced. If he was in Gemini's shoes there would be no reason to honor a bargain made with someone such as himself. They had the Mantle, and the person to explain how to use it. The blue scientist would have to find another way of being useful or he would never see a drop of power from the artifact.

"Uh--Gemimi?" a voice suddenly echoed in the Command Center. It was a high pitched voice, somewhat nasal, and incredibly familiar to Dr. Drakken. "I mean, Sir, there's a matter in the security ... room, that you need to see."

The stockier man arched his brow. "I'm busy, it can wait."

"Naw, it's really important, it's... uh-- Kim Possible! Yeah, and Global Justice. They're on their way!"

"Blast it," Gemini clutched the syringe in his fist tightly. "How did they find us?" His eyes turned towards Drakken. "What foolery did you do?"

"I've been tied to this chair for DAYS!" Drakken yelled. "What _could_ I do from here? I'd say it was that nerdy friend of hers that found you!"

"I still suspect you," sneered Gemini. "But that is a matter for later. Sound the alarm! We need to buy time for the drugs to work, we don't have another backup base built yet to escape to."

"You know, I've had my share of secret lairs, believe me," Drakken noted, calmly. "But I never wasted money having more than one at a time." HE paused, then added. "Well, except for Bueno Nacho, but that really wasn't costing me money."

"maybe this wasn't such a good idea," the voice on the loudspeaker softly said.

"What?" replied Gemini, angry.

"Uh-not-nothing!" the voice said back, stronger. "Sounding alarm now."

Everyone paused.

"Well?" said Gemini.

"It's ah... a silent alarm," the voice said. "You know, the nifty one we had put in as a... gift."

"A gift?" Gemini said, abashed. "For me?"

"Yeah," the voice sounded proud. "For you."

"That's awfully nice," smiled Gemini warmly. "I thought you guys all forgot about my birthday."

"Uh," Drakken interrupted. "Crisis going on here?"

"Right," nodded Gemini. "I'm going to the security station. You handle things here."

"I'm still TIED TO A CHAIR!" cried Drakken.

"Yes sir," a voice from behind the captive doctor said then stepped into the light, revealing the Alpha symbol emblazoned on his chest.

Gemini parted the crowd of soldiers as he walked out and pointed to one half. "Come with me," he scowled, and stormed out of the room with the soldiers in pursuit.

The large doors closed behind them and Drakken craned his neck to look at Alpha. "Funny," said Drakken. "I don't remember seeing you earlier."

"Well, doy! You're probably the least observant person I've ever worked with," said Alpha, in a suddenly higher pitched voice.

Dr. Drakken's eyebrows raised. "That's strange you sound just like--"

Alpha slapped his head and then reached up to pull off his mask, revealing a torrent of long black hair that Drakken couldn't figure how it fit into the seemingly tightly fitted costume. A pair of emerald eyes blinked stared at Drakken. "Get it now?" the definitely womanly voice asked.

"Shego!" yelled Dr. Drakken enthusiastically, then paused and continued in a more reserved voice. "You're looking a little... manly." He stared at the bulging chest and arm muscles the jumpsuit was showing.

"Hey!" yelled one of the other WWEE soldiers, having noticed the sidekick.

Shego ignored him and grabbed Drakken by his blue labcoat, picking him up chair and all. "If you EVER make a remark like that again I will burn you alive." The lab coat smokes slightly where Shego was holding it and Drakken felt the heat near to his neck.

"Y-yes, Shego," stammered the doctor. "Never again."

"Good," Shego's eyes narrowed. Tossing Drakken behind her, she squared off against the WWEE soldiers, pausing only to reach into her jumpsuit and begin pulling out clumped towels, causing her 'buff' physique to deflate into her normal veldt form.

"All right," she said, smirking, then motioning with her green glowing fingers. "Who's first?"

-----------

Gemini stormed through the corridors of his base, looking determined. Behind him at least ten of his men were walking in pace with him. No chances were going to be taken this time, he was close enough to his goal, and he couldn't risk being stopped now. There was still time, if he could get his base defenses up before his sister arrived with her cavalry.

The door the security room opened and the first thing he saw was that all the monitors on the far wall were showing either static or were completely black. He scowled at this incompetence and looked down to see the single young teen standing by the console with a pink rat perched on his shoulder. He looked smug as Gemini looked down at the three guards on the floor.

"Stoppable," he said, with venom.

To his credit, the boy didn't cower in fear like he expected. He simply pointed back and smiled. "Don't forget about her," he said.

Gemini turned just in time to get slugged in the cut and kicked to the ground. As he squirmed slightly in the pain, the WWEE soldier that hit him leapt suddenly over to the boy and reached up for his mask. The purpose suit was pulled back to reveal a long mop of red hair and green eyes looking back. She stood at ready position.

"Don't you think telling him we were here was a little risky, Ron?" asked Kim.

"It was a calculated risk," nodded Ron, confidently. "It at least split them up."

"Still, two on ten is pretty big," started Kim when she was interrupted by a high pitched cough that sounded more like a squeak. She looked over to see Rufus pointing at himself enthusiastically. "Sorry, Rufus. Three on ten."

"GET THEM!" Gemini caught his breath and hollered.

Trained better to listen to orders than exercise reason, the nine remaining soldiers rushed forward to attack Kim and Ron, trampling Gemini in the process.

-----------

Shego ducked behind Gemini's command console at his center chair, dragging Drakken's chair, as the WWEE henchmen began firing laser weapons at her. Using her own energy blasts to keep them back and collected on one side of her, she tried to figure out a way to gain an advantage.

Drakken struggled ineffectually behind her.

"You know, Shego," her employer commented. "You could untie me instead of throwing me all around the room."

"Quiet, Dr. D," Shego hushed him. "I'm thinking."

Peaking out from behind the console, she saw a few henchmen try to creep their way forward ducking behind various turned over tables and by lying prone in front of the dais. Shego generated a ball of energy and flung it to the side, tossing shrapnel at the guy behind the table and causing a large panel television to fall on the guy in front of the dais who screamed like a child in fright.

Shego smirked until she felt the whole ground shift and groan. She looked around and realized they were on a suspended walkway above a larger area of the command center. The walls were shaped like a bubble, sloping down from the top center and leaving a ten foot gap around the edges where Shego supposed the lower level was. The door she and Kim entered from was opposite from her leaving no other exits on this level aside from taking the plunge one story down.

A series of laser shots forced her to duck her head behind the console again and she heard Drakken yelp once. His hair had been singed by a near shot and she roughly pulled further behind the console to keep him from crying.

The ground swayed again and Shego was forced to accept that the level she was on was being severely damaged by the firefight. She looked back over the console and flung another ball of energy to keep the henchmen from advancing. The orb exploded against the ground, blowing a sizable hole in the floor and causing everything to jerk to one side slightly then sway back to level.

"Better not do that again," she mused then noticed that some of the shrapnel from her shot had struck the long haired teacher Kim and she used as bait and he was now lying on his side. "Dammit, that teacher Kim wanted me to save is still out there."

"Kim?" said Drakken, looking up from his fabulous view, face-down, of the floor. "Kim Possible? You're working with her?"

"Don't start," snapped Shego, ducking again. "Two things before you go on some dumb tirade. One, your mother is a real piece of work and I'd thank you very much if you make sure I never see her again. And two, you were _kidnapped_, who else was I supposed to work with? Duff Killigan?"

"I wasn't kidnapped," pouted Drakken. "I was contracted."

"Yeah, okay, right," nodded Shego, kicking the metal chair Drakken was secured to. "I think you may have wanted to negotiate a better payment plan then. Or at least pay in advance. Gods don't tend to keep their promises."

"The Mantle!" the blue doctor said suddenly. "We must have it! Then we can get ourselves out of here quick!"

"Yeah, how well did it work when Gemini put it on, huh?" Shego leaned right and fired more energy bolts (carefully avoiding the teacher), striking one henchmen and sending him flying.

"Uh, well," started Dr. Drakken but Shego didn't bother to let him finish.

"It doesn't work, idiot! It's a fake! Kim and I hid the real seventh piece, you guys just have a cheap knockoff." Shego looked around, debating whether she should stick her neck out for the teacher. She didn't really care, but she did agree to help and Kim held up her side of the bargain. Then again, Shego was evil, so there was no real obligation to do what she agreed to. Of course, she wasn't in a fabulous sitch...uation right now and might need Kim's help getting out of here. "Not to mention this mystical god stuff seems awfully bogus. It's not your M.O. anyhow."

"One makes exceptions for godhood," commented Drakken.

Shego looked at the crumbling floor near to the teacher and made her decision. She grabbed the doctor's chair and flung a large energy ball towards the same place she'd sent the last one. The blackened floor exploded again, throwing chunks of charred tile and metal, creating cover as Shego ran with Drakken in tow towards the teacher.

"What are you doing? SHEGO!" yelled Drakken.

Flinging energy bolts with her free hand until she reached the teacher, she caused monitors, screens, and chunks of ceiling to fall around the WWEE henchmen, keeping them pinned. Once by the tipped man, she grabbed his chair like she had Drakken's and ran towards the blackened hole she'd made in the floor with her two balls of energy. Kicking Drakken's chair down the hole and pulling the teacher's chair behind her they slipped through the rubble and down towards whatever lay below.

Shego glanced down as they were falling. "Oh," she said. "Not good."

-----------

Kim tried to weigh the situation between goods and bads as she ran through the corridors leading out of the security room. On one hand, she and Ron were still alive, several henchmen had been locked in the room thanks to Rufus' ingenuity, and Gemini was unconscious. On the other, six soldiers were still following them, Gemini was back in the security room, and she expected that running into the command center right now would be akin to a death sentence, regardless of how well Shego was doing in there.

Shego. She hoped things were going well. Kim didn't exactly like the idea of leaving both the rescuing and the handling of the majority of the WWEE henchmen up to her, but the emerald girl was insistent that the teen-hero handle Gemini. Kim wasn't even sure why she trusted Shego, she certainly hadn't been worthy of that earlier than last week, but now... things seemed different. Ever since leaving GJ headquarters there was an earnestly Kim saw in her adversary's eyes that wasn't there before. She wondered if it would last when all this was over.

A nearby wall panel exploding, brought Kim back to reality and she had to add another item to the 'bad' column: inside the security room the henchmen had been hesitant to fire their weapons near the computers but out here they were going willy-nilly.

"Kim," Ron said, slightly out of breath but pushing on. "I have an idea where we could make a stand."

"You do?" asked Kim. "Where?"

"Come on, I saw it on the security monitors," he ran along the left hand wall and then turned down an angled corridor. "Aside from security and the command center, there's thankfully no one else in the base."

"Everyone must have been watching the interrogation," mused Kim, shaking her head. "I hope Dr. Rick is okay."

"I think we stopped him before doing anything permanent," console Ron. The hallway sloped up slightly before ending in single sliding door. A sign glowed at the top of the doorway.

"Galley?" read Kim. "Ron, are you serious?"

The doors swooshed open and Ron ducked inside with Kim close behind. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Rufus, holding him out to the panel next to the doorway. "Hey buddy," he said. "Think you could slow them down a bit?"

"Eyah! Okay!" said Rufus before diving onto the door panel and unscrewing the plate.

Run turned and ran back to the food preparation area. He paused and looked around at the expansive kitchen. "Ah, industrial strength cookware," he reveled. "Truly a sight to behold."

"Ron!" yelled Kim, accusingly. She stood in the dining area turning tables on their ends to create a barrier. "Can we focus?"

"Right, KP, just taking a second to admire something marvelous. I'm done now." He reached over to a food processor and started pulling it apart. Kim just rolled her eyes.

Outside, banging on the door into the galley echoed into the room. Kim and Ron looked up to see Rufus leaning against the door rubbing his nails against his chest. He paused and gave a thumbs up. "Way to go, Rufus!" said Ron.

"Yah yah," cheered Rufus before running back towards Ron.

"What are you building?" asked Kim after she'd arranged the dining area to give cover against the laser blasts.

"It's a Citrus Shocker," said Ron, confidently. Several other appliances had been grafted onto the food processor now. "I'd to find a way to get it to start with the same letter but S-Sitrus just looks strange and C-Shocker would come out sounding 'chocker,' which isn't right either."

"What does it do?" Kim said, trying to get to the point.

He picked up a basket of limes and lemons and dumped them into a catcher he built on top of the machine out of a pair of colanders, then picked up the entire appliance and headed towards Kim behind the barricade. "It uses the natural electrical current in citrus with zinc-copper electrodes (from these galvanized bowls and the copper bottomed pots) to create a mild stun gun."

Kim blinked.

"Plus the industrial strength food processors will wing these limes out of here at like 90 miles per hour!" added Ron.

Kim raised a brow. "Are you sure you haven't bonked heads with Drakken recently?"

"Just trying to do my part," said Ron, hefting the gun on his shoulder.

Kim shrugged and smiled.

The door slid partially open and she hunched closer to the barricade, pulling Ron lower so more of his body was covered by the upturned tables. A group of hands reached in an started pulling against the doorway to open it wide enough for the soldiers to get through. Kim put a hand on Ron's shoulder.

"Ready..." she said.

The hands strained against the door mechanism and eventually won out, pushing both halves of the sliding door aside and revealing two henchmen and the hints of more behind them.

"Now!" yelled Kim.

Ron's food processor whirred up, causing the whole device to shake wildly. A lime descended into the chamber and was immediately pureed, causing juice and chunks of lime meat to spit out of the barrel and land a few feet away.

Kim paled. "Ron..."

"No, no," said Ron, over the increasing noise his apparatus was making. "The first one is just lubrication."

"Lubri--?"

A sound like a small explosion or distant thunder sounded as a lemon suddenly flew out of the barrel of the 'gun' and struck the lead henchman that had entered the room. He took the citrus fruit to the chest and jiggled slightly as a brief shock was delivered then fell onto his back, clutching his chest. The other henchmen stared at their downed comrade for a moment, paralyzed.

The second lime caused another henchman to fall back into the hallway and convulse for a second on the floor. That time, the rest of the soldiers got the idea and started diving for cover and returning fire. Kim pulled Ron down behind the tables, nearly getting struck in the arm by laser fire.

Team Possible put their backs to the tables as laser fire flew over head and Ron checked his ordinance. "How about that?" he said, grinning.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed," said Kim. "Think you can send a few more out there to give me cover fire?"

"You got it, KP!" replied Ron, getting onto the balls of his feet, ready to rise and fire. Kim edged near the corner of their barricade then nodded back at Ron.

"BOO-YA!" he cried as he stood, apparently setting his contraption on full-auto as he raked the room with alternating green and yellow spots.

Kim cut right to wall opposite of the kitchen and ran along the originally untouched tables before diving to the back of the room and rolling behind the first henchman she saw. The purple uniformed man looked back at her and raised his gun by Kim kicked it out of his hand then entered a crouching defensive position, still ducking to avoid the crossfire of fruit and deadly laser.

The soldier moved first, swinging with his gun hand to slug Kim's head. She dodged back easily and came around with both her hands to his chest, staggering him backwards into the toppled table but failing to cause him to fall. He regained his footing and leap at Kim, getting into a grapple. His large hands held her shoulders to the ground and the teen couldn't possible match the henchman's strength. She did the only thing she could do.

The soldier took the kick rather well, she had to admit, but quickly rolled off of her to clutch his wound. Kim reached into her pocket and pulled out an elastic band and wrapped it around the man's hands and legs. A few seconds later it shrunk considerably and solidified, hog-tying the henchman. Kim silently thanked Wade for all his toys.

Shots overhead flung past her head and she backed against the table for cover again. She was to the right of the rest of the henchmen now so she had fewer tables to give her cover, not to mention the remaining three henchmen were slowly working their way towards her, beneath the tables and below the fire of Ron's Citrus Shocker. Grabbing edge of her cover, she rolled the table to manipulate it to give her better defense against the laser blasts and counting on Ron to not shoot her with fruit.

Keeping her eye on the leading henchmen, she put her hands against the back of the table and positioned it directly between herself and the man. Breathing out, she got on the balls of her feet and swiftly pushed the table forward towards her adversary. The bottom of the table scraped against the floor but the distance was short enough that she was able to surprise the henchman and barrel him over.

Again, the strength difference between the teen cheerleader and the burly henchman made it difficult for Kim to keep him pinned for long. She used the opportunity to grab his gun and toss it aside just before he pushed the table up and allowed it to fall to the side. Kim landed nimbly, then leapt at the straightening soldier. He was ready, however, and flung her over his head and into the wall behind him.

Landing on her side, she felt the world spin slightly from the impact, but recovered just as the henchman grabbed her loose uniform (still packed with towels) and picked her up over his head. Kim wasn't sure if he was going to suplex her or just fling her into the wall again, but didn't want to take the chance. Pulling out another elastic band she wrapped it around the hands holding and let it shrink, pulling the soldier's wrists together instantly and letting her fall to the ground. A kick to the chest flung him into a series of tables and left him down for the count.

Remembering the firefight, Kim ducked down but paused when she didn't hear firing anymore. She looked for the remaining two WWEE soldiers and saw one had succumb to the power of limon and was unconscious and the other was struggling with Ron over the 'gun.' As she started to run she saw the apparatus get tossed to the side and Ron and the henchmen square off.

"Ron!" she called as she ran as fast as she could... which made it easy for the seemingly unconscious henchman to grab her legs as she ran past. Her chin struck the ground hard and she saw spots in her vision but shook them off, pushing herself up on her hands and looking back at the soldier. He did, apparently, get hit many times in the chest and face, as the bruising and lingering fruit juice indicated, but he was just not as easily stopped. Kim kicked her legs free but man had already grabbed her waist and was struggling to hold her down.

Kim glanced back to see Ron trying to fight kung fu-style with the man, and she hoped for the best. If the moons were right or whatever it took to trigger it, his Monkey Kung Fu might save him. She turned her attention back to her situation and started beating on the head of the man clutched to her body. Her punches were as hard as she could make them but she figured that even a lime traveling at 90 mph would feel harder. The aggravating part was that the man seemed to be doing nothing but holding her, probably buying time for someone else to come and finish Kim off.

He was too far down on her body to repeat what she did with the first henchmen she grappled with, and her fists seemed to be doing little. She flailed with her arms for something to use and felt purchase on something smaller and metal. She brought it in front of her face and saw it was one of the laser guns being used by the soldier. She gripped it firmly and tapped it on the man's head that was holding her. He looked up and froze, but didn't leg to.

"Get off," she tried to say firmly but didn't quite succeed. She was firm with the gun but in her mind she was freaking out. She couldn't possibly shoot someone with it, that's not something she did. Take a life like that or even seriously injure someone. But if he didn't let go, and Ron was in trouble... could she do it, could she shoot someone so close and not go crazy?

"Make me," the henchman said, somehow sensing her inner turmoil. He grinned an evil grin, punctuated by black and blue swellings across his cheeks from citrus fruits.

Kim trembled, then quickly adjusted her grip on the gun and struck him across the back of the head with the handle. The man seemed unfazed, and Kim's heart leapt into her throat, but then he crossed his eyes and collapsed. Kim sighed in relief.

"KIIIIIM!" called Ron. The teen's head jerked up and she turned to see Ron getting hit repeatedly by the henchman, and only Ron's strategic sidesteps during beatings kept the uniformed man from getting to a gun.

Kim summoned up her energy and kicked the man on her to the side and tossed the gun away. Only a few short steps and she could help her boyfriend. Her legs burned but she pushed them once more to make the largest steps she could make, trying to end this battle as soon as she could so she could get two seconds to breathe.

Ron got cracked across his face by the much larger man's fist on Kim's first step. His neck craned and he tried to move with the energy but his footing was false and he fell hard to the ground.

He was clearly dazed on Kim's second step, and Kim knew Ron would be no more help until he could clear the dizziness. Thankfully, the henchman was staring at him for another attack and wasn't paying attention to Kim's swift approach. She smiled.

On the third step, Kim's fists balled, ready to deal some hurt. She shifted her weight heavy onto her foot, ready to put all her energy into the first hit. It would be a surefire knockdown and give Ron a chance to recover before they headed into the command center to make sure Dr. Rick was okay.

As Kim started to lunch forward she felt the sharp throbbing in her chest and she felt her muscles across her abdomen spasm, changing her center of gravity and throwing her off course. She struck the henchman awkwardly, not with her fists but with her head and shoulder and deflected to the side, striking the floor with her shoulder and then her head. She smelled something burning, which didn't seem odd, since she was in the kitchen, but it was a truly terrible smell, like nothing she'd ever smelt on fire before.

She tried to move her head but her energy was lost. She managed to look down her body from where she came from and saw the henchmen she was struggling with previously, bleeding across his face, one eye swollen shut, and propped up barely on one arm with a gun in his hand. The gun was slightly steaming and the henchman smiled at her for just a second before collapsing. Kim felt fire spread across her chest and she glanced down once before she felt too tired to keep her eyes open. She held her head up just long enough to see the black charred hole just above her left breast.

Sleep encroached as she closed her eyes. She heard a cry that sounded like Ron's voice, but it was strange, strained. He his cry turned into some sort of howl before finally being replaced by quick sounds of combat.

Then she heard nothing at all.

-----------

Shego felt strong, but uncertain hands pull her from the pile of broken monitors, tables and reams of paper. She gripped the hand back and let herself be brought to the surface of the wreckage in time to look into the eyes of the tall, long haired teacher. His pupils were dilated and he seemed woozy, but he helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright, Shego?" he asked softly. She nodded absentmindedly as she looked up. It was way further down from the upper platform than she'd expected, and was glad not to be toting a series of broken bones. Somehow the teacher survived the experience intact as well. The remains of his chair lay scattered among the piles of wreckage.

Shego looked around for Drakken and noticed her employer lying on his side nearby, somehow still tied in an undamaged chair. She got to her feet and was about to make an abrasive remark about Dr. D's luck when the teacher suddenly put his finger to his lips. He moved closer to her.

"They're down here now, looking for us," he whispered. The piles of fallen debris from the upper platform and fallen equipment and filing cabinets from this level had created several piles of garbage large enough for them to hide behind. It appeared that the WWEE henchmen were carefully skulking around each one looking for herself and her two former prisoners.

Shego ignited her green energy experimentally and mentally checked her body for damage. She felt sore all over, but nothing broken or sprained. She could probably take a few henchmen no problem. Peeking her head around the edge of the debris pile they had fallen into she counted six henchmen. Then another six came around a pile and she raised it to twelve. That would be pushing it. Then a third group of four henchmen appeared beside the first and she counted sixteen.

Pulling her head back behind the debris, she tallied up her odds. Yup, she concluded, we're screwed. Time to bail.

And yet, something lingered in her mind. She wanted to turn tail and get out of dodge as soon as her legs could carry her but she felt she couldn't. Not only was her jet too far away and in the wrong direction not to get shot to pieces by WWEE, but somehow, something was different. These guys caused all that carnage at GJ, just because they were a _hindrance_ to their thievery plans. If someone was actively stopping them, who knows what they could do? If they got away today, would they pursue her? Drakken? Kim and Ron? And what about every other 'good' organization in the world? What if somehow Team Go got involved?

The bodies of those agents at GJ headquarters returned to her, filling her mind, except this time their faces were not nameless agents she'd never known before. This time they had all new faces. They had Drakken and her own face, Team Possible's faces. They had her brothers' faces.

Shego swallowed. The world sucked, she knew that, she counted on it, in fact, to get away with what she did. And while she may be eviler than Drakken, Killigan, and Monkey Fist combined, she had her limits.

She looked to the teacher. "I don't suppose you have some hidden fighting talents that could help us?" She looked stolid at the taller man who just blinked then nodded.

"I am, in fact, rather good at fighting," he admitted. "But they have guns."

"Hey, hey, I'll be the one pointing out the grim odds, thank you," snapped Shego, quietly. "There are about sixteen of them out there, split into three groups. I'll try to lead two of them after me and you can take the last one."

"What about him?" he gestured to Drakken.

"He's useless in a hand-to-hand fight," said Shego plainly.

"Hey!" Drakken said, still lying on his side but not conscious.

"I'll take him with me," she reassured the teacher. Pointed her finger, Shego fired a small bolt of energy that burned the ropes along the back of the chair Drakken was strapped to. He fell out, rather unceremoniously, and then picked himself up just as quick.

"Shego, we're going to have to talk about our employee/employer relationship rules again," Drakken said, putting his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, whatever, if we survive," Shego rolled her eyes. "Are you ready?"

"Are you kidding?" asked Drakken. "I'm all cramped from that chair I need to properly stretch before physical exertion."

"I'm ready," said Rick.

"Okay, we go," Shego nodded. Before Drakken could protest, Shego grabbed his collar and yanked on him. They flew into the open and she Shego immediately cut between the two closer groups, using her free hand to strike as many of them as possible with energy blasts. Her shots were wild and as soon as the groups saw her, they started to return fire so she had to persistently dodge to keep from becoming a donut. She got close enough to one group that she got zinged by a shot across her extended arm, but kept running until she'd gotten to the doorway where she risked a look back.

The remaining group had already been engaged by the teacher who had advanced forward much at the same rate as Shego, but stopped to begin performing martial arts on the closer six person group to him. He looked to be using a form she'd never seen before, but was nonetheless, apparently very strong as the one punch she witness flung a henchmen onto his back like he was paper.

"Not bad," said Shego as she slipped into the corridor sloping upward. She had a pretty good idea where the corridor was going to open into based on Kim and her wanderings earlier. She just hoped that Kim had taken care of her group so she wouldn't have to deal with it.

Drakken complained incessantly at the laser fire coming from behind them but Shego didn't slow her pace. The doctor would cry and moan to her when they got back to his island, but ultimately it was better than ending up a scorch mark on the floor.

It was when they were about twenty yards from the junction with the main corridor that she saw them. Two figures, silhouettes from the high lighting, were standing at the junction looking down at where Shego was. They were too tall to be Kim and Ron, and she had to accept that they were more of Gemini's goons. She moved her hand from firing green energy behind her to focus it in front. One shot to take out both and she should be able to keep her speed.

The ball of energy charged in her hand and she held it at ready. Not wanting to waste it until when she could be sure she would get them both.

Then suddenly a shot rang out from the figures that sounded more like an explosion than the tinny shots from the laser guns the henchmen were using. Something big flew past Shego and impacted on the leading henchman chasing her. The ball-like projectile exploded into a tight net that wrapped itself around the man causing him to fall face first into the tile. Shego paused, unsure of what just happened, if it was luck that she was missed, or that shot was intentional. Shego squinted her eyes to see better.

The two figures resolved themselves into a tall woman with brown hair and muscular black man with a goatee. They were both wearing Global Justice uniforms.

Shego flung her ball of energy behind her and rushed over to the two and recognized the woman immediately.

"Shego, isn't it?" the woman said before Shego could even start. She was smiling oddly, just like she had been on the Kimmunicator. "I'm Acting Director Cartwright. This is Commander Dash Demond from our European Theatre."

"Uh--" started Shego.

"Dash, you can introduce yourself later," nodded Cartwright. She motioned behind the green thief. "If you don't mind?"

"Yes, Director," nodded the large black man who waved over his shoulder and ran past Shego. Seconds later three other burly men and two athletic looking women followed down the corridor, strange net-firing weapons drawn.

"Rick is back there," Shego said, after getting over the surprise.

Cartwright raised an eyebrow. "We'll make sure he's extracted. What about Kim Possible?"

"I'm not sure," Shego shook her head. "We got separated during the attack."

"Very well." The Acting Director turned step aside. "For your help here and because of Kim Possible's trust in you, we'll let you go right now if you choose, rather than pursuing any attempts at apprehension."

Shego blinked.

"You do still have an outstanding criminal record," pointed out the brunette.

"Hey, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth," shrugged Shego and started to head out. A moment later she felt resistance in her hand. "Dr. D, what is it now?" She looked back.

The GJ Director was holding Drakken's shoulder. "I'm afraid I can't offer the same to your associate here," Cartwright admitted. "His connection to the bombing of GJ Headquarters means we will at least have to hold him."

"I was a prisoner!" yelled Drakken, struggling against the Director's surprisingly strong grip. "Just like that other doctor in there!"

"That will have to be proven." The woman smiled. "Sorry." She pulled out a pair of strange, square handcuffs and locked them across Drakken's arms.

"Shego!" hollered Drakken.

"Sorry, boss," Shego said, putting a finger to her brow. "Like I said, I don't look a gift horse in the mouth." She turned and started strolling away. She could still hear Drakken's rabid calls even when she finally reached the main junction and glanced behind her to look at the chaos beyond the Acting Director.

"Oh well," shrugged Shego. "I suppose this is as good an end as any." She started to head towards the hanger.

Then stopped.

She slowly turned to look back down the level corridor to the upper level of the Command Center. It was empty. Everyone was fighting downstairs. Including GJ.

"Well, maybe one more act," she said with a smirk.

-----------

Gemini awoke amidst the bodies of his own men in the security station. He could hear chaos going on outside and all sorts of gunfire. He groggily pulled himself to his feet and moved to the console. Pressing a button, he returned control to a few critical security cameras and displayed them on the large composite screen. He could see the fighting in the lower command center, the hallways, as well as the GJ jets parked outside the base and in the hangar. He could see Lipsky in GJ custody and Dr. Vedas being rescued by their agents. There was a swarm of commotion in the galley as well, but the camera seemed to be covered in some gooey substance and he couldn't see exactly what was going on.

Gemini sighed. He'd failed utterly this time. He'd have to escape but one other thing took priority. He pressed a few button on the panel and routed commands from the main center to the security panel and initiated a satellite link.

Moments later, a hardened female face appeared on the screen covered by a black mask that exposed only the mouth and left a pair of slits for eyes. The mask extended past the edge of the face to make a pair of extended triangles flair out at 45 degree angles from the temples. The lips on the woman had a faint red lipstick but couldn't hide the deep wrinkles that extended from the edges of her mouth as if the woman had frowned for the entirely of her life.

"It's fallen apart," Gemini said, then scowled. "Kim Possible."

"I warned you," the woman said, monotone.

"GJ has taken everything, I only have a few minutes to escape before they find me."

"Everything?" The voice was skeptical. "Where is the Mantle?"

"It was left in the Command Center last I checked, but the cameras don't show it now."

The woman mouth curled in a thin smile. "It's okay."

"Okay?" Gemini was confused. "We've lost everything! We're back to square one. We'll have to reclaim all the pieces, from my sister this time, which won't be easy. They may even claim me if you don't intervene!"

"Oh, no, things are actually quite as I'd hoped. I believe your role in this is finished, however," the woman reassured, still in monotone. "The Mantle was never intended for you. You are just one move in a larger game of checkers."

"Checkers?" said Gemini. "Not chess?"

"The objective in this game was not to kill the leader," said the woman. "But to get my piece to the Crownhead and be kinged."

Gemini narrowed his eye. "You lied to me."

"Yes," nodded the woman. The screen went blank immediately afterwards.

Gemini grit his teeth loudly and slammed the button for the emergency escape vessel so hard it broke the panel. A section of the wall slid open revealing a tunnel just large enough for Gemini to slide through.

The door to he hall slide open before Gemini could reach the escape. He dashed forward hoping to dive in before being shot. He was a moment away when he heard the sound.

"Yip, yip!"

Gemini froze, and turned his head slowly towards the doorway. A tall, muscular man with short red hair and wearing a GJ uniform looked at him, holding a small puppy carrier in one hand with a Chihuahua inside. The WWEE eye widened. "Pepe!" he cried.

"Forget something?" the agent asked.

Gemini looked between the exit and Pepe, nervous sweat trickling down his brow. He had only a step to go, but there was little chance he'd get Pepe back if he left now, but if he didn't leave now he'd never leave.

"I can wait all day," the red-haired man said. "Take your time to decide."

-----------

Dr. Rick stood patiently next to Ron Stoppable, his hand on the boy's shoulder. It was hard, sometimes, for people to remember that Kim and Ron were just children. Not even eighteen. They seemed to take on responsibilities that even the eldest of their culture is reluctant to, and do it with pride and humility. But some things, they just didn't have the experience of yet.

They were both standing in Gemini's base, watching as Global Justice cleaned up the lose ends: arresting the remaining henchmen, collecting data and stolen supplies, and tending to wounds. Some wounds would take longer than others to heal, however.

He felt Ron tremble under his grip and he patted him reassuringly. Before them the GJ crash team was busy working on Kim, trying to patch up the laser wound going through her chest to make her stable enough to move to a surgical hospital nearby in Reno. They had been optimistic, the shot was high enough that all the major organs had been missed, but there was still substantial burning and collateral damage to worry about. She'd still be on thin ice until she'd had surgery performed on her.

Ron hadn't ever had to face this sort of crisis, Rick had supposed. From what he'd read, Kim's adventures had luckily ended up with them almost perfectly fine in the end, if not a little beat up. But actual life-and-death injury, no, Rick was sure this was the first. He tried to talk to Ron a few minutes ago, reassure him of Kim's strength, but it was all on deaf ears. He'd been there when she was shot, and Rick had seen enough people get hurt to know what his first reaction would be.

"It's my fault," Ron said, almost right on cue.

"As much as you don't believe me, it isn't," said Rick. "These things are intrinsic dangers of what you do. Surely what you saw at GJ proved that to you."

"I know there are risks." Ron looked down. "She was only careless because she was coming to rescue me. She would have been more careful if she was on her own." He shook his head. "She was only coming to rescue me because I couldn't-- I ..."

He shook terribly and balled his fists for strength. "Because I can't summon the power I have. Because I've acted like a spoiled child for years because I think I can get away with it." Ron breathed deliberately, holding back pent-up rage. Rick could see it tearing at him. "Ha ha," Ron mocked. "Look at silly Ron, scared of everything that moves. Look at the buffoon, loses his pants every mission! The dumb doofus can't even walk without tripping."

"Wait, what was that about pants?" asked Rick, confused.

"I'm a joke and I reveled in it." He looked at the mass of people huddled around Kim. "Look what it gets me. I couldn't even get myself hurt, I get the closest person in the world to me hurt. She's hanging in the balance because I think I can choose to be an idiot most times and only serious when it's convenient."

"Ron," Rick said softly. "You're going in circles. It's not like this, you can't help this happening sometimes. Even if you were both at the top of your game, eventually someone would get hurt. Your villains are not letting this stay anymore, they're escalating the violence, which means your risk is escalating as well."

"If we were both at the top of our game, I could have easily handled the guy who grabbed me. I could have taken on the dozen henchmen by myself." Ron turned on Rick. "If I was at the top of my game, I wouldn't have to _pray_ for the Mystical Monkey Power to activate, I would just _use_ it."

"Okay," a GJ agent suddenly announced. Ron and Rick turned to look. "Lets get her out of here. On three, fellas." The paramedics counted up and then lifted Kim onto a stretcher and quickly wheeled her away, running.

Rick watched, solemnly. "You should go with her," he said, pushing gently Ron's back. The blonde boy nodded slowly then jogged behind the gurney.

Acting Director Cartwright stepped up next to Rick to take Ron's place. "This is why Betty didn't want them involved."

Rick looked plainly at Jennifer. "I've seen a lot of heroes in my life," he said, sagely. "I've seen a few of them die as well. So please try to understand that what I'm saying is not my opinion, it is a fact." He paused for effect. "That's not her choice to make. They are true heroes, Kim and Ron, and they won't be deterred simply because bureaucracy tells them to. The only thing you can do is make it easier for them to stay alive."

He turned after Ron and started walking slowly away.

"There's still one more issue," the Acting Director called after him. Rick turned. "The Mantle is missing."

Rick froze.

"It went missing sometime during the fight," she continued. "We don't have it, and none of the WWEE henchmen got away."

Rick looked slowly back and forth, turning the last day over and over in his head. Then he realized.

-----------

Dash Demond stormed the underground vault at the Federal Reserve in New York City, his closest team members, Crash and Burn, were quickly following him. They'd left the WWEE underground base as soon as they heard and flew here immediately, but Dash figured it was already too late before they landed. His fears were confirmed when he got the radio ahead that there'd been a break-in and the police had closed the area down and awaiting orders.

Thankfully, GJ had enough influence to convince the police, FBI and National Guard not to enter the facility until Dash and his team had arrived. But if what Director Cartwright thought was true, then it wouldn't matter in the end at all. Either the target was still there, and had more than enough firepower to take out all of Manhattan, or they were gone, and the waiting was useless. Still, Dash preferred to go by the book, since Global Justice had written quite an extensive and agreeable 'book.'

"Hey, Dash," Crash said pointing at the thick metal door that had been melted to slag. Molten steel was still behind as well as a few wisps of colorful energy. "Looks pretty consistent, with her M.O."

"What isn't consistent," Burn cut-in. "Is the silence. Why nothing ever since entering? She's not the type."

"Let's hope that it just didn't work and she's waiting there to be arrested." Dash nodded. "That would be a nice end to the day."

The team moved carefully down the long concrete and steel barred corridors towards the back of the vaults. Around them piles of gold glittered in the fluorescent light, completely untouched, while the path of carnage continued onward. The bodies of a few security guards lay strewn across the hall. Crash checked each of them and confirmed they were just unconscious before the team progressed forward again.

At the end of the corridor they saw it. The final vault, the bars melted to slag in a puddle on the floor and the door on the small safe within broken off. Someone was there, wearing the oddest looking headgear and torso covering that Dash had ever seen. But he'd been briefed to on it, so it was recognizable as the Mantle. The person was lying on the floor for some reason, in front of the safe, next to a small stack of gold bars, swaying slightly back and forth. The long mane of black hair peeking out from beneath the headpiece of the mantle identified the target.

Dash and his team pulled out their stun guns, just in case they did something, and advanced forward. Each step agonizingly closer, almost in rhythm with the sways the thief was doing on the floor. Sweat trickled down his dark brow as they reached up to her and pointed their three guns down at her body.

"Shego!" Dash called to no response. He glanced once to Crash and Burn then started to bend down, reaching carefully for her shoulder. He quickly shook it and pulled her onto her back.

She flailed once and started convulsing on the floor. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and she had started to foam at the mouth while her limbs jerked unconsciously.

"She's seizing!" Crash yelled and immediate bent over her, trying to wedge her mouth open and keep her from swallowing her tongue. Dash backed up and pulled out his radio to call for an ambulance as Burn stepped up to Shego to remove the Mantle.

"I need a medical unit stat!" Dash yelled into his radio.

"What the hell?"

Dash turned. "What is it?"

Burn pulled again experimentally and looked up to Dash. "It won't come off!"

-----------

Dark figures swam across distant shores threatening each moment to consume everything in a pitch blackness but at the last moment retreating. It was tiring and thrilling at the same time. Intrinsically, she knew she should be looking at light and not spots of darkness, but it was all she'd seen since appearing so she had nothing to base her opinion of 'light' on. Maybe the soft patches of brighter grays _was_ the light and she just hadn't gotten used to the contrast.

Suddenly, something arrived, different, not made up of grays and blacks, but color. Blues and greens swam around the image as it approached. It felt warm, and soft, like tangible love and it consumed her entirely, filling her with life and identity. _This_ was light, now she knew. And she didn't want to go without it again.

The scenery changed to a grassy hill overlooking long, stretching plains that terminated in the distance by a line of dense trees. The sky above was a bright blue, not like you would see in the real world, but something more alive. The sky shimmered in delight and fought playfully with the intense greens below.

Despite the surrealistic appearance of it all, Kim had to admit that it was quite breathtaking.

"I'm glad you like it," a soft voice said from behind her. Kim turned slightly, smiling warmly. She recognized the voice.

"Come on, Ron," she said waving to the glowing figure behind her. "It's a gorgeous view!" Kim giggled. She liked to giggle, right? Yeah, that sounded right.

Ron sort of... was next to Kim. He didn't really move, but suddenly he was closer and looking off over the hill next to his best friend in the whole world. Kim thought it was great. She'd never seen him do that, but most of all, she'd never seen such a clear sky.

"I made it all for you," Ron said, trying to smile. "It should give your mind something to focus on other than the murky grays you'd been seeing in the last week."

"Wow, I wish the sky always was this clear," Kim said, basking in the sun.

"I wish we could talk normally," Ron continued. Kim was happy to have Ron with her, after all, he was her boyfriend, but wondered why he wasn't happy too.

"Unfortunately, I can't yet create dreams, I can only enter them, which means, ultimately, you won't comprehend my words until you wake. Sensei is helping me modify your existing dream to this landscape." Ron looked down. "It just seemed so depressing, sitting in the middle of a murky lake as the fog rolled in. I know you didn't want to be there."

"Look! A flock of doves," Kim pointed to the sky. "Oh! And a bower by that other hill. Let's check it out!" She jumped playfully down the hill and started casually jogging towards the distant bower. Ron 'moved' to keep up with her.

"Wow, you're fast today," Kim laughed.

"Listen, Kim, I'm... well, I'm already gone. I'm not in Middleton, or even in the US anymore. I've gone back to Yamanouchi. It's my fault you got shot and... well, I can't be a fool anymore. It's already gotten you hurt and it would kill me if it happened again. I'm going to train under Master Sensei and Yori-san until I can reliably use Tai Shing Pek Kwar. I'm not sure how long it will take... I don't even know how this all works, but I'm not going back until I'm no longer a burden." Ron swallowed, tears forming in his eyes.

"Don't cry," Kim said.

Ron looked up suddenly at Kim, wide eyed.

"We'll get there soon," she pointed to the bower. "You don't have to push yourself so hard! It's just for fun."

Ron rubbed the tears from his eyes. "It's not a game. Not anymore." He sighed deeply. "Please, Kim, don't ask Wade to find me. I need to do this, and... I just feel too guilty right now."

Kim reached the bower and laughed, breathing deeply. "That was good. See? You're not as out of shape as you claim."

"I will miss you deeply," Ron said putting his arms on Kim. "You're the most important person in my life. Which is why I have to do this, to protect you."

"Come on, lets look inside," Kim said, starting to peal away the tarp covering the bower. Ron pulled her slightly away from the lean-to.

"You have to go through there alone," Ron said, staring into Kim's joyful eyes. He hesitated, then kissed her softly. "Good luck."

"Let's go!" Kim cheered and reached for Ron's hand. Her hand passed right through Ron's but she didn't notice and entered the darkened bower.

Suddenly winds and forces and pain assaulted her all at once. It as like being inside of a tornado as her body was being pulled desperately apart and pelted with hundreds of tiny pieces of debris all at the same time. She screamed out, hoping someone, anyone could hear her. If only Ron was with her, she'd feel better, somewhat safer...

And then it was gone, and reality returned. Kim gasped, taking in her first breath manually in over a week. She opened her eyes but they weren't used to the light and everything seemed incredibly bright. She covered her eyes with her hand, feeling the slight tug of a tube pull against the nook of her arm. All over her body she felt sore, as if she'd pulled every muscle at once.

She gasped when the pain in her chest reached her brain and she felt that lying still forever might be the best idea she'd ever had. Breathing as shallow as she could to keep the pain from coming back, she slowly opened her eyes again, trying to adjust to the brightness.

"Kimmie?"

The voice was soft, but caring and loving. Kim turned her head slightly and saw love materialized. This time in the form of her parents and brothers, smiling and staring down at her in the hospital bed. Kim smiled slightly and tried to speak but her throat was dry. Her mother gave her a large cup with a straw in it to sip from and Kim did, slowly.

"Hey," Kim finally croaked. "What're you all doing here?"

"Oh, checking out the food," her father said. "Your mother insists it's better than the hospital she was in when you were born, but I don't believe it. Cardboard can only be colored up so many ways."

Kim laughed. "What's been going on? How long has it been?"

"Hiya sweetie," her mother said. "You've been asleep for a week. They had to keep you under while they repaired the damage, but you're all clear now. They say you'll be as good as new."

Kim nodded. She looked back and forth. "You're all here, where's Ron?"

Her parents held their breath and looked awkwardly at one another while even the Tweebs frowned sadly. Kim couldn't understand, Ron was with her up until that last fight, and if she survived, Ron couldn't possibly have been in worse shape, could he?

Shapes and figures floated in her mind, like an ideas taunting her from across the ether. She remembered having some sort of strange dream.

"Kimmiecub," her father said. "Ronald has..." he trailed off. "He's pursuing some new things."

Kim closed her eyes and tried to remember. It was important, this dream, she had to remember it. It started while she was on a ... boat? Yes. In the middle of a dark lake, but then it changed suddenly and she was on a field.

"He said he'd be back," her mother continued. "But he wasn't sure when."

Ron was in her dream but he wasn't. He was talking to her as well, but not, in the same way. She couldn't understand then, but some of it was coming together now.

"I think he said he was going to Japan," Tim offered.

Japan. Yamanouchi. "RON!" Kim suddenly yelled and tried to sit up. Unfortunately a half dozen tubes and needles and straps kept her from going far. The collection of wheeled equipment connected to her clattered together around the bed.

"Kimmie!" her mother yelled and put a hand on her chest, trying to get her to lie down again. "Calm down, you'll hurt yourself."

"No, Mom!" Kim yelled in a frenzy. "I gotta stop him!"

"It's too - it's too -- Kimmiecub!" Her father rose his voice. "Kimberly Ann! Calm down, before you make yourself worse!"

Kim froze, unused to being scolded by her parents, and let herself be eased back down to the bed. "Ron--"

"He left days ago," her father continued, in a softer voice now. "There's nobody to stop."

Kim thought to the dream, and knew he was right. Ron said he'd already left. He said a bunch of other things too. Things that...

Kim started to cry. She'd faced pain before, been hit and thrown, even be gouged mildly once or twice. But Ron... leaving her when she needed him, it was...

She opened her mouth and started to bail. Her tears felt like fire down her cheeks and her whole body started to shake with each sob. She tried to stop, desperately wanted to control herself... but she couldn't. There wasn't anything she could do. She'd convinced herself throughout her whole life that there were always possibilities, that nothing was without a solution that she could perform. But looking at everything in front of her, and what she'd just gone through, there was only one option left.

So she took it, and cried. "Oh Ron," she said between sobs. "You were never a burden..."

Her parents hugged her as she shook and cried. Then the twins came close to console her, and she cried. Even as her family was ushered away by the nurses, she was crying. Finally she was given a sedative to help her sleep through the night.

It was a sleep filled with an ocean of tears.


	6. Epilogue

----------------

Disney's Kim Possible in

**Disappearing Doctor**

By Adam Leigh

----------------

-----------

EPILOGUE

-----------

Dr. Director sat in her chair at the end of a long conference table. She'd only been absent for a week or so and the whole world had happened. It was surreal and a little disappointing. She tried not to interpret events as if the world depended on her to keep order, and this meeting was intended to help that.

To her right was SIC Jennifer Cartwright, who had been more than charitable by taking over command of GJ in Betty's absence. She hadn't yet finished reading every report from the period she was absent, but the summaries she received led her to believe that Cartwright had done a stand-up job in the crisis they were in.

Jennifer and Dr. Director went way back, a handful of years both professionally and then socially and then professionally once more. But it dwarfed the time she knew the man to her left. Richard Wagner Vedas sat calmly and coolly, but inside, he was simmering. Betty knew. He hated bureaucracy, and while she had complete authority in the end, there were at least some considerations given to what the Oversight and Liaison Committee (also known as the OLC) felt about Global Justice's actions.

Aside from the twenty-four members of the OLC at the table as well, there was also Vicki Grimes sitting in a chair to the rear left of Dr. Director. Cartwright had intended to deliver the lady's report, but Betty had insisted that if Vicki did the work, she deserved to present it. As the last of the OLC members got into their chairs, Dr. Director felt it time to get things moving and cleared her throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," she said. "I thank you for coming to this OLC meeting today, as we are finally prepared to disclose our findings regarding the recent World Wide Evil Empire incident. Our findings in this case will all labeled WEE15538732-GAMMA and provided to your respective governments or organizations for review. The core elements of this incident, however, we will provide to you at this time."

Betty turned in her chair slightly to get more comfortable. "The matter was opened starting with the kidnapping of fugitive-at-large Drew Lipsky, also known as Dr. Drakken. What was originally considered to be a non-issue in this case, but later was revealed to be essential, is that Drew Lipsky is the son of Angela Kelly-Lipsky and the late David Lipsky who were once known as Atomic Andy and Captain Fantastic, respectively."

-----------

In a hospital, not too distant from where the conference was taking place, a patient lay in a darkened room accompanied only by the soft beeps of the many machines connected to her. There had been no visitors since her check-in, and no change in her condition. The doctors who tended to her were unable to figure out what was going on in her brain and their attempts had been greatly hindered by the huge stone headpiece they'd been unable to remove.

Still, aside from looking like a museum mannequin that had gotten lost and ended up in a hospital, Shego looked terribly peaceful. Especially with the sedatives that were keeping her seizures in check.

It was late and dark, and no visitors would have been allowed even if she had anyone who would come. But that didn't stop the door to the room from quietly opening and a short woman, no greater than four feet tall and only half that around, waddling in. She had large spectacles on, and a very loud dress, with a beehive that stood probably half her height again. She closed the door behind her and placed a metal pad across the seam, which sizzled briefly and then sealed the door shut.

Pulling over a chair she jumped up onto the seat and peered over at Shego's sleeping form. The Mantle of Tenoch was still clinging desperately to her body, as the woman had expected. She gently pushed some random strands of hair out of Shego's face and tiled her head.

"Let me tell you a story, Shego," she said to the sleeping girl. "Once upon a time, in a city far far away, I was a young lass just like you. I had strength and power, and ambition -- oh, the heavens did I have ambition! I set my sights on the world and I would not stop at anything less. As the years passed, my power grew and my influence expanded. The other villains of the age looked up to me, and anticipated my success."

The woman adjusted her seating. "Ah, but I had a folly, a terrible, terrible folly. I loved to play games. Not just any games, though. Manipulating games. People without power were inferior to me and I wanted to see them spin through hoops at my request." She shook her head. "It would be my downfall."

-----------

Dr. Rick stood and motioned towards the slides that he'd passed out to the OLC earlier. "Depending on who you ask, the Mantle of Tenoch is a very mythic object indeed. Classically speaking, which I guess means what you find in a museum, the Mantle was a Mayan piece, worn by Tenoch, the legendary founder of the Aztec civilization. This mantle was enshrined by the Aztecs after Tenoch's death and later lost in a series of moves by the civilization rending its original location unknown."

"What is also publicly known, or at least can be assembled, is that Cortez came across the Mantle during his conquest of the Aztecs but he neither knew nor cared what it was and his crew shipped it, along with an assortment of other artifacts back to Spain which were consequently traded across the known world, their origins and purposes lost. Factually, this is where contemporary knowledge ends."

"Mythically, however, there are widespread tales of the Mantle of Tenoch being capable of bestowing powers to its wearer akin to a god. These rumors of supernatural power were redoubled during the years of great intrigue about the Mayan people and their intelligence. There are also writings, which date back to the Aztec era, of the Mantle granting knowledge of the future to its wearing, possibly even the ability to travel in time."

Rick flipped a page on his slides. "Now, there is more information about the Mantle of Tenoch, as I alluded to earlier, that is not in the public consciousness. I have copies of a missing pages from Cortez's journal that indicate the Mantle was complete and being worn by an Aztec man during the time of his conquest. Cortez speaks of the man being 'like a god' and able to see attacks before they happened, speak about men he had never met before, and that rumors existed that he was immortal."

Richard looked around at the faces of the committee as the digested what he'd just said. "Now, this man was consequently slain by Cortez, so you can forget about that last one."

-----------

"He was a sweet man, but none to bright," continued the woman to the sleeping Shego. "An accountant in his 'real life' I found it hard to believe that a person so fanciful could live such a regulated facade. Still, despite his naive nature, he was quite a capable hero. He thwarted some of my best plans, I hate to admit. Although much of his life turned out to be dumb luck."

"I was attracted to him. I don't know why. Maybe it was just part of the 'bad girl' persona I was living that I craved attention from my nemesis. He was handsome, though. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't his heart that I desired. We came together from time to time, I guess he came to love me, I'm not sure. I would use my knowledge of his life to help my plans succeed and he would beat me anyway, just shaking his head as if I should feel guilty for using the resources he's given me. But in the end, and I'm not sure why, but by the end of the night, we ended up together."

"But I couldn't drop my games. I just ... I still have to do it. It's the only real sense of accomplishment I get anymore. So I started playing with his mind. I tried to convince him he was a fool, that his life was a series of lucky mistakes and eventually, if he kept up, someone would rely on him for a task he couldn't complete. The luck would fail. I tried to slip my message in here in there, subtly, so he didn't realize what I was doing. But he got the idea, eventually. That's why he went searching for the Mantle of Tenoch, what you're wearing know."

"You see, he got it into his head, and this idea was his own, that the Mantle would make him intelligent and wise. He'd heard the rumors that it granted you knowledge of the future, and he figured if he could see everything coming, he could prepare for it, and appear wise. He never realized that you can't fake wisdom. Either you learn from you past or you don't. Frankly, though, he never should have been able to even assemble the Mantle if he hadn't had help from a little group called 'Global Justice.'"

-----------

Vicki smiled nervously. "So you see, our electronic records had this gap, so our only alternatives were to find the original paper records or hope there was enough corollary information in the anecdotal reports that were missed to piece together the truth of the event. Through a combination of anecdotal reports and interviews with surviving ex-GJ agents from the sixties, we were able to reassemble this chain of events."

Agent Grimes turned the slide. "In 1965, the reported year of Captain Fantastic, aka David Lipsky's, disappearance Global Justice was in possession of the complete Mantle of Tenoch."

The committee exploded in murmurs again, but Dr. Director quickly silenced them. Vicki continued. "They had, in fact, been in possession of it since 1963, when, at the behest of Captain Fantastic, with which they had a great relationship, they attempted to search for it. It was pieced together and used by Captain Fantastic in a bid to increase his intelligence to help fight crime and, more specifically, the at large criminal Atomic Andy, his later wife."

"Except, as Dr. Vedas explained the true purpose of the Mantle of Tenoch, it doesn't quite work that way. His soul was exiled from his body and, to the best of our knowledge, found its way back six months later. During his 'soul trip' he learned of a means to 'correct' a villain's evil nature. A device called a 'Kahn-Clasp Inhibitor,' an infinitely distant variant of which has recently been marketed by Jack Hench as the Attitudinator."

"Captain Fantastic had neither the resources nor the intelligence to act on the plans he had committed to memory and Global Justice was eager to help reduce the super villain population, so they jointly developed the first Kahn-Clasp Inhibitor. It was constructed swiftly, and used on Atomic Andy. It worked."

The committee looked around at one another suspiciously. The liaison from Canada spoke up. "If you've had such a device, why have we never heard of it before now? Wouldn't this seriously decrease the number of global crimes?"

"Unfortunately," Vicki responded. "Later reports we uncovered indicate the device had ... side effects."

-----------

"Personally, I don't think my own sin of not really loving him with my heart was worth the punishment they inflicted upon me," the woman said scornfully. Shego, still unconscious, lay silently.

"I can remember it now, which is funny, because I couldn't for the longest time. I guess it wore off over time, or something else happened I'm not aware of. In any case, I can actually remember with clarity the times before he used that Kahn-Clasp thing on me so I know for sure, how badly it screwed me up."

"You even mentioned on how my 'figure got shot to hell' afterwards, and you're absolutely right." The woman nodded. "Mutagenic anomalies are what they called it at the time. Basically, they used this thing on me to make me 'good' and it destroyed fundamental sequences in my DNA. They built this whole corporation, VersaGene, around trying to piece back together by body from the wreckage the device left it in."

"But here's the terrific part: I didn't care! That damn evil-adjuster made me so benign, so happy to just be alive and with my 'beau' Captain Fantastic that I felt like I could endure anything. And it wasn't just anything, it was world changing agony! But no, everything was all dandy for me. That bastard went through emotional turmoil that got him out of the hero business, but he didn't have to feel his skin literally crawling across his body for days at a time."

The woman grit her teeth. "If it wasn't for that Kahn-Clasp Inhibitor, I'd have killed myself to be rid of it all. Just to end the pain." She hesitated, checking Shego for a reaction to which, naturally, there was none. "He married me, as things would go, and I was happy, or mock happy, or whatever you call someone so utterly manipulated that you have no idea what up and down are anymore. We had Drewby-- ugh, I mean Drew. Then, a year or so later, he went back to that cursed thing."

She shook her fist. "David, Captain Fantastic, had been working with GJ as an analyst and, strangely enough, personal accountant, since marrying me but had never gotten over how he wronged me. And damn well he shouldn't have, but the point is, he never understood why he didn't foresee the side effects of the Kahn-Clasp Inhibitor when he discovered it in his soul's journey across time and space. So he decided to take another stab at it, find someway of fixing me or gaining peace with what he did."

"Now, this was 65, we were just starting to dabble in computers as a country and GJ was, as they are now, ahead of the game. They had just come across the concept of computer-aided security recognition. The precursor to those keypad entry systems so pervasive today. David had set up some of those systems, and knew his way around a bit, so he gave himself access to the vault and walked in and put on the Mantle of Tenoch again."

-----------

Rick shrugged before the crowed. "This is where it doesn't make sense, because nothing we ever documented explains what happened the second time he put on that Mantle."

"It practically exploded. When agents went in to clean up the mess, the only thing they ever found was the helm piece, which they agreed to remove and placed in the care of a long lasting family in good standing with Global Justice." He pointed to himself. "Mine. Where it had stayed, safely, until last week. It was believed that the other pieces of the Mantle had been destroyed, and it no longer presented a risk nor was a viable source of information anymore."

"Apparently, we were wrong. The pieces, unbeknownst to me or anyone at Global Justice, resurfaced across the world. Eventually finding their ways back into museums where, last week, they were stolen and assembled again with the exception of a single piece, the helm in my family's possession."

Richard sat down and Dr. Director nodded. "Thank you Richard. Now, based on what you've heard today, the events of the last two weeks will begin to make sense. I will briefly connect the dots for you." Betty nodded and a project showed a timeline.

"Based on the discoveries of Vicki, revealing usage of access codes and information from the 60s being applied two weeks ago, and the information we now possess concerning Captain Fantastic and Atomic Andy, as well as our understanding of the true purpose of the Mantle of Tenoch, it is our opinion that the objective behind everything that happened recently, was in order to put Angela Lipsky in a position to gain access to the assembled Mantle of Tenoch so she could use it to gain information about the future. Possibly in order to enact a form of revenge on Global Justice for what happened to her or to continue her plans of world domination."

-----------

"Honestly though, I would think they'd have noticed," admitted the woman, reaching into her purse and pulling out an old, jade amulet, intricately carved. She showed it to Shego's unconscious body. "Cortez even spoke of it in those 'lost pages' they have. The 'Window of Jade' the Aztecs called it, but to Cortez it was one of a hundred jade amulets recovered in that area. So why would think it special?"

She laughed to herself and put the amulet around her neck. "It really is a foolish translation, though. You see, just because someone can be killed..."

The woman put her hand out over Shego's forehead and pressed her fingers against the unconscious girl's temples. The amulet on her chest began to glow bright green as tendrils of purple energy began flowing out of the pieces of the Mantle and around the ends of Shego's body. They drifted on unfelt currents of air for just a moment before quickly being pulled into the jade amulet.

As the energies flowed and twisted in the air, they collected with other, green colors, and merged before flowing into the amulet. The woman's body suddenly lifted from the ground as began to shimmer as the purple tendrils began to wane. Her skin turned translucent then became nothing but energy entirely, reorganizing, redistributing, becoming a messy blob first then slowly being manipulated back into the human form. However, now, the form was taller, thinner, more feminine.

On the bed, Shego's body shivered as it began to shift and sag, her face drooping slightly while the rest of her body because spindly and boney. Her hospital gown sagged as the body beneath shrunk slightly, her deep and rich black hair turning lighter and streaking with gray. Her fingers crackled with energy once then dissipated into the air only to be draw in by the energies of the jade amulet.

At long last, the light began to fade and the woman's form touched the ground, first wobbly, then quickly getting her footing. Her clothes had torn and shredded, to small for her new height. She looked at her long, smooth arms and ran her hands across her sharp jaw and tight skin. She quickly rushed to a mirror and gazed deeply at the image she saw.

"Oh my," she said at first, with a gasp, before slowly turning to grin with giggles. "I'd forgotten how sexy I used to look." She laughed playfully, then turned towards the bed. The once youthful, even sex form, had been replaced by something elder, less nimble, and more frail.

"You're lucky," the woman said scathingly. "At least you still look like _you_,and not some bulbous monster." She flicked her long hair behind her and picked up her purse, a large bag, but one necessary to keep the clothes she knew she'd need to leave with. Slipping on the flimsy skirt and tank top, the woman smiled in the mirror again.

With a pleasant laugh, she walked over to the bed and began removing the Mantle of Tenoch. "What was I saying before? Oh yes," she packed away the pieces in a larger plastic bag she'd brought with her. "Just because someone can be killed, doesn't mean, given the right circumstances, they aren't immortal."

With her things packed away, the woman walked to the door and looked at the metal seal she'd placed there. She cocked her head to the side and then held out her hand before her face. Concentrating, she narrowed her eyes and suddenly the hand burst into crackling green energy. She brought her finger down on the seal, cutting through it like butter.

"Definitely an improvement," she said simply, then pulled open the door and walked away.

-----------

The committee stared, blankly. The German oversight member cleared his throat. "But I thought Angela Lipsky was permanently 'good.' How did she overcome the effects of the Kah-Clasp Inhibitor?"

Betty's mouth became a thin line. "We can't, at this time, narrow down a specific explanation. Our conclusion of Lipsky as the ringleader is based on her knowledge of David's passcodes, as well as the remarkable coincidence that there was a system breach at exactly the same time she was visiting GJ Headquarters with Kim Possible. Just because we cannot determine the cause of her turn back to evil, doesn't mean it is not the most likely scenario."

"Who removed the records of the Mantle of Tenoch?" asked the Italian oversight member.

"We believe it was the work of a virus," Vicki said, standing. "Possibly originating from Mrs. Lipsky as well, but we can't confirm that. The virus, if there was one, was self erasing. Also, the paper records for many of these events were also missing, so there may have been a second hand in it."

"Dr. Director," the British liaison spoke up. "This story, while elaborate and informative of how devious GJ's actions have been in the past, is not fully supported by the evidence of events in the last two weeks. Is it not more 'likely' that Gemini acted alone and has simply stepped up his game?"

Betty reflected no emotions but simply nodded. "That is a possibility. However, we prefer to prepare for the worst in case it comes true."

"Are you attempting to incite panic?" accused the US liaison, who alternated his look between Dr. Director and Jennifer Cartwright.

"That is, in fact, the opposite of our purpose," said Dr. Director. "We wish you to know all of the facts that have come to light, so you can better prepare yourself for what might be coming ahead."

"Which is what, exactly?" replied the liaison.

Betty sighed. "Almost anything."

-----------

"Not the best conference I've been to," shrugged Jennifer as they stood in Dr. Director's office (which was previously Cartwright's office, which was previously Vicki's office). "But this is the way things are in the world."

"What do you mean?" asked Richard, throwing his presentation in the trash.

"Just a few years ago, nobody would have questioned GJ," said Jennifer. "The climate of truth is changing in the world. Nobody trusts anyone anymore. If it can't be destroyed and proven to contain at least some malicious or devious intent, then they won't trust it, and if there IS a devious element, they know they can't trust it. It's an endless cycle of shameful behavior on everyone's part."

Betty laughed.

"Something funny about that, Bets?" asked Jennifer.

"No, I was just going to say I thought Richard was the jaded one."

This time Rick laughed. "Well, when you've lived as long as me, it's hard to keep a fresh perspective." He shrugged. "I think Aurora's rubbing off on me, though, I have more hope these days than I used to."

"Does that mean you'll consider being an agent again?" asked Betty.

"No," Rick said curtly. "I don't believe in these organizations anymore."

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "That's an odd statement to make, considering your current involvement."

"Not really. I don't really trust Global Justice at all. I'm probably worse than your OLC. The difference is, I trust Betty." He flashed a smile to the Director. "So I'll do her a favor or two. That, and I do think Kim Possible will go far, so anyway I can help keep her safe in her budding years, I'm glad to help."

"You're not missed in New York?" asked Betty.

"Aurora is more than capable of finding me if she wanted," grinned Rick. "For the purposes of her privacy, I'll not even mention how much she knows about magic that you think is just hocus pocus."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be riveted by what you have to say for a long time to come," Betty admitted. "Aurora needn't worry about me. You're only... what? One? Two hundred times older than her?"

"Now now," Rick said waving a finger. "We do not count a man's years until he has nothing else to count."

Betty smiled. "Emerson."

-----------

Kim wasn't sure where she was supposed to be here, after all the ruckus that had been going on recently, she had to see. There was a connection, something drawing her in, and right now, how she felt, she needed every connection she had to feel alive again.

She wheeled along the hospital corridors silently. She had heard from an orderly about the 'event' the previous night, and only in passing found out who it was. What strange and bizarre coincidence that they'd be placed on the same floor in the same hospital. Kim wondered if it was fate.

Or perhaps Global Justice messing with her again.

Kim found the room easily, there was no reason to put it behind locked doors, nobody knew she was here except for a handful of people and the doctors and nurses who didn't know who she was. Kim figured after last night, however, that it would end up in the news eventually.

Kim pushed open the door and awkwardly wheeled herself in, shutting the door behind her. In the room was a single bed with an eldery woman lying here, her long hair combed delicately to the side, her pillows fluffed and sheets straightened. Only the soft sound of the EKG meter filled the silence. Kim wheeled up to the chart which said only 'SHEGO.' Nothing more, nothing less.

Kim smiled sadly, and moved to the edge of the bed and looked, shocked at what she saw. The normally pale, but vibrant Shego had become soft, and dull. Her face was drawn in place, not along the edges of the mouth or the sides of the eyes, where laughed takes its toll, but across the brow and nose, and beneath the eyes, where her constant scowl left its mark.

Kim reached up and felt Shego's hair, letting her hand brush across the former thief's cheek. It felt cold to the touch. Not dead cold, but, as if a heat or fire that had always burned within her was suddenly extinguished. Even the room felt slightly chilled to Kim as she pulled a loosely knit shawl around her shoulders.

"Hey," she said to the silent Shego. There was no response and none was expected.

"It's okay," Kim continued. "I don't think we'd have much to talk about even if you were awake."

She tried to think of something to say and fell silent.

"Don't you think I forgive you," Kim said suddenly before she knew what she was doing. "For taking that Mantle after we worked so hard to get it." Kim opened her mouth to continue but it felt wrong. "This still shouldn't have happened to you though. I really don't know what's going on anymore."

Kim sighed. "Ron left. I know you really don't care, but I'm telling you anyway. For once, you can't interrupt me with your sarcastic remarks! Anyway, he, uh, thinks he's a burden, so we went to toughen up. He shouldn't have. I really need him right now."

Kim looked up. "How about you? I don't suppose you get many visitors. Team Go knows you're evil now, so I don't imagine they write much. Who else is there? Drakken? Still in GJ jail I assume. Could be anywhere I guess. So, all you get is me. Tough deal, huh?"

"I've had visitors, but, I really don't want them right now. I feel... useless. I say I can do anything, well, apparently I can also chase away the closest person in my life as well. I guess you had to leave your family when you realized you weren't... good. That must have been rough too."

Kim paused but couldn't think of anything more to say. She sighed, and started to wheel back towards the door.

The hair on the back of Kim's neck suddenly stood on end and she felt a chill just as she reached the knob and she stopped to cover herself, shivering slightly. "Ugh," she said. "It's cold, huh?"

Kim looked back at Shego's form, lying still, under a simple sheet. Kim frowned. She turned and wheeled back to the bed, grabbed the heavier blanket and pulled it on top of the aged criminal. "That's better, right?" Kim half-smiled, then sighed again.

"I've got a book," Kim offered. "I can, read a bit of it, if you like?"

Pulling out the rich tome, Kim opened to the page she was reading and started to speak aloud. The words were simple, but there was a warmth behind them. Caring. Each syllable she vocalized seemed to bring warmth back into the room where there had only been surgical coldness before.

Closer than Kim could ever suspect, Shego's disembodied form lay ethereally beside the wheelchair. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but suddenly the cold depression that had fallen on her since putting on the Mantle lifted. Shego couldn't touch, or feel, or interact, or speak to anyone. But for some reason, Kim, reading a simple book, felt warm. She clung to her nemesis for dear life and prayed for the first time ever, that Kim would never leave.

END.


End file.
